Of Skulls and Bones
by EllieCain
Summary: A resurrected mummy brings Hellboy and the team to Paris where they are re-united with an old friend. The case brings up old tensions, flames and desires as Hellboy has to decide what he really wants and what he'll do to get it. The case will bring the team to their breaking points, and as it all spirals out of control, love just may fall together. Fluff, action, sass :)
1. Into the belly of the beast

**A/N Hi :) Long time reader, first time writer. This has been kicking around in my head for a while so enjoy!**

 **Notes: I swear. A lot. If you don't like swearing I apologize and if a lot of you write that you'd rather not see it I'll think about cleaning up the language. This is a slow burn Hellboy/OC and I promise there are lemons to come. Please read and review the good the bad and the ugly :)**

It was a dark and stormy night in Paris. The kind of night where stray cats hid in windowsills and people huddled up with mulled wine inside cafés and bistros. For a city that was usually a tightly packed hive of energy, Emma Jones only passed by the odd lost and wet tourist on her way to the Louvre. As she reached the Seine and crossed over, she tucked her chin even further into her dark red wool scarf, wondering if it was possible for her to become anymore damp and chilled than she already was. A distant crack of lightning and the soft boom of thunder distracted her for a moment before she began to worry her lip once again.

The Louvre was foreboding at this time of night. Deserted and dark the looming palace seemed impregnable. It had not always felt like this for her, but unfortunately the palace would always be a place of bittersweet memories. Passing by the glass atrocity that welcomed visitors in the day she continued crossing the courtyard until she reached the other side. For discretion she had been instructed to enter on the north side. The usual one-way escalator was providing the staircase into the bowels of the beast. A lone agent was standing guard, dressed in a crisp black suit and sporting an equally crisp jawline and nose. Emma had to smile to herself; they certainly did not break the mold with this one. Nodding in greeting, she presented her credentials that she had been fiddling with in her pocket before descending the staircase. The agent had barely looked at her ID before moving aside. It was either the world's worst agent or she was more recognizable than she thought. She hoped it was the former.

As she walked through the corridors, she headed towards the center of the underground pavilion. Once again, there was a lone agent in the center of the room.

"Don't you guys usually work in pairs?" she asked.

The agent did not twitch a muscle. "Ms. Jones," He stated. "Follow me please."

Sighing Emma shifted the bag more securely on her shoulder before following the man swiftly and silently. She knew where he was taking her, the Egyptian wing of the Louvre was her favourite and she had the steps memorized. Knowing that she wouldn't have much luck at small talk, she let her mind wander.

The first time she had been to the Louvre was when she was a little girl, six or seven maybe. Her father, a broad-shouldered, good-natured man, had taken her to Paris for the weekend while her mother had delivered a guest lecture at Cambridge. They had spent the day in the Jardin du Luxembourg, she had played with a small sailboat in the fountain while her father snacked on treats from Pierre Hermes, and laughed as she once again capsized the tiny vessel. They had finished a quiet dinner at a small bistro before her father had announced that he had a surprise. Giddy with excitement she had followed him through the winding streets till they reached the palace. It was not as foreboding then. To her it was a fairy tale, Cinderella's castle and Belle's library all rolled into one. As the curator and her father chatted and reminisced about their time as college students, Emma drifted into a different world, one of knights and princesses, stories of adventure and heartbreak and mysterious women with small smiles. The Egyptian wing really caught her interest though. She did not understand any of it. The tall statues with animal faces and the bodies of men, the broken talismans and ancient stones with an unrecognizable pictures engraved into them. But she loved it, a love she did not understand but trusted absolutely. Her father had talked to her about the gods and goddesses, the Pharaohs and Queens, as she had wondered at it all. She was so engrossed in the tiny blue figurines meant to accompany a pharaoh into the afterlife that she barely noticed the book, spread page by page on the wall behind her. Her father though was fascinated by it. He and the curator talked long enough about the Book of the Dead for Emma to become so sleepy she ended up in her father's arms.

It was that room, so many years later where she found her fathers body. Bile rose in Emma's throat as the memory assaulted her. The clear, white marble stained with blood, a broken case and a lost manuscript. She pushed the memory down, filling it away in a box, she was becoming very good at it.

The agent pulled Emma out of her reminiscence with a light cough. They were well into the Egyptian section, in the room containing all of the beautiful sarcophagi. Professor Brume, a slight man with a warm smile and even warmer eyes, opened his arms at her entrance.

"Emma," he grinned, holding her in a warm hug for a few moments. "It has been far too long my dear."

Matching his grin, Emma laughed a little. "It hasn't been that long," she remarked. "I've missed you too." Shaking herself she pushed the lingering sadness of her fathers passing to the side. She had to focus, she hadn't even noticed the professor until he was standing right in front of her.

The Professor nodded, "I have missed your smile, child. Once this unpleasantness is over I believe you owe me a tea and stories of your travels." Emma nodded but uneasiness crept into her, this was unpleasant in deed.

Keeping a hand lightly on her back Proffessor Brume guided Emma to the back of the exhibition. Agents in matching crisp suits were buzzing around the room; a full forensic investigation was well under way. Emma instantly knew what was wrong. The mummy, which dominated the room, was gone.

"He didn't get up and start walking did he?" Emma asked.

"The guard reported him missing last night, the museum has been closed ever since. We are the first to examine the scene." The Professor explained in his usual measured tone.

"Why didn't they just call the cops?" She asked, crouching down to inspect the case. Usually they had to fight the mundanes for jurisdiction.

"No alarms were set off."

Emma let out a huff as her eyes went wide. The Louvre kept its most valuable assets well guarded with alarms, pressure and heat sensors and strong cases. Having something stolen without so much as a peep meant trouble.

"Any chance it's not supernatural?"

The professor merely shook his head. "Scans are indicating traces of human, dead and ancient."

Emma shook her head in dismay. Abraham Sapiene, a unique blue merman like creature worked as an agent for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, of which the professor headed. Abe had developed a scanner that could detect the type of creature or magic which had been preformed in a given space. As he had put it, "a black light scanner for the paranormal." It was genius and dead useful in knowing what they were dealing with. Unfortunately, for Emma, human, dead and ancient were not things she wanted to hear.

"Any idea how many were dealing with?" She asked.

"No but we've got a team searching the place." Said a deep voice. Turning with a smile Emma greeted the man. "Clay!"

Giving him a warm hug, she stepped back to look at him. "My, my don't you look handsome," she teased.

"Hey what can I say, gotta keep looking good to attract you ladies." He gave her a wink and a smile before taking stock of her. "You look amazing, Emma."

Bushing, Emma tried to push her mound of red curls back from her face. "I look like a wet rat," she laughed rolling her eyes.

Turing back to the case she lightly rubbed her finger on the broken glass. "It was functional when it left."

"How do you know?" Clay asked.

"I can feel it." She said simply. Walking over to the nearest wall, she touched it lightly with her hand closing her eyes. "It's here somewhere. I can feel its movement disturbing the air." Opening her eyes, she looked at Clay. "If you don't mind, can I have the room? It will be easier for me to get a read when I can concentrate harder." Clay nodded and began to usher the agents out.

"Where do you think it is?" Prof. Brume asked.

"If I had to take an educated guess... I think it's downstairs, Greek wing." she said moving further into the room trying to get a read on the mummy. It had been awakened. Dead and human usually meant necromancer but the magic was weak. Necromancy took a lot of juice.

Suddenly a huge presence came into her minds eye. Whipping around Emma focused on a looming presence at the very back of the long room. Even with the nearly 200-yard distance between them, Emma saw that the hulking figure was massive. _The thing nightmares are scared of,_ she thought.

"Well," the bulking creature drawled in a deep, rolling baritone, "I better go say 'Hi.'"


	2. Run over by a bulldozer

**A/N Thanks for the review Flint and Feather! I hope you enjoy :) And yes, I did use to live in Paris.  
Also I am new at this so I'm still trying to figure out formatting on this site, hopefully I'll figure out what works best asap!  
**

He didn't say another word to her as he turned and disappeared around the corner, feet pounding into the floor. Letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, Emma shook herself a little and tried to calm down her thundering heart. Glancing up briefly at the Professor, she noticed a small smile in the corner of his mouth.

"How long has it been, Emma?" He asked, not missing a thing.

"Since what?" She asked faking ignorance as she tried to slow her breath.

"I believe it has been two years by my count since our last case together." He answered for her, stepping out of the room to give her space.

Shaking her self out again she sat down before concentrating on the air around her, letting it melt outwards until she could feel every particle of air in the entire palace. She was sweating with exertion pinpointing places where the air parted. Three agents in the hallways, four in the next room with twelve on each of the floors below and above her. A creature that required minimal air and damped the molecules around him was currently in the hall examining the entrances and exits. Emma smiled to herself as she noticed Abe's unique signature. Finally, she concentrated on the bottom floor. A huge creature was parting the air currents at a remarkable pace. The mummy was naught 400 feet away from the beast currently hunting it. It was barely making a signature she could detect, so soulless and small. Confident there was no one else around she let her awareness focus on the space surrounding her. The air tasted like dark magic, sinister but weak. It had the slightly salty taste of human, though it was tainted by a tang that she had never experienced before. She was confident it was only from one source though, one human. That made her smile; she hated crowds of wannabe dark lords. Made everything so messy. The human sorcerer had entered through the window; he had disabled the alarms with quick, albeit messy magic before resurrecting the mummy. Emma felt the weight of magic had been preformed over the corpse, trailing off towards the same window. In and out, a messy but quick job. Why had he left the mummy though? She pondered. By the amount of energy the man had expended and the roughness to the magic, he obviously wasn't a pro. Why bother wreaking yourself to wake up a mummy and then leaving it? Running her hands through her hair, she returned herself to the present world and went to find the professor and the team.

Clay, Brume and Abe were just as perplexed as she was when she told them what she had learned.

"So what was it?" Clay asked. "A prank?"

Emma shook her head, "Too much effort for a prank."

"Was there anything interesting about the specimen?" Abe asked.

Looking to Abe and sharing a weary glance, Emma sighed. "Not at first glance, but we can find out."

As they arrived downstairs and followed the angry grunts to a small-secluded room full of statues Emma took a moment to take in the scene. The large creature was currently pummeling the stone floor below his feet with his huge right stone hand. The man was large. Well, Emma admitted to herself, large didn't seem to do him justice. He was at least seven feet tall with shoulders built to withstand any force, enormous bulky muscles filled his arms and continued down his massive chest to a steel core ending with powerful legs covered in tight leather pants. His skin was a bright glistening red, complete with etchings of ancient sweeping symbols and long healed battle scars. His appearance was the least unsettling thing about him. It took Emma nearly six months to recognize the feeling she had around him, for she was so use to being the predator she never realized that when she was in his presence her body instantly knew she was prey. Grunting he continued to pound the floor with as much strength as he could muster. Emma was sure the floor was going to cave in any moment.

Clearing his throat, Brume called to the man who immediately stopped his assault. Turning to face them Emma lifted her eyes to meet his. His face was as chiseled as the rest of him. A hard jawline with a heavy brow, framing a straight nose and high slashes of cheekbones; his lips were drawn into a severe line, his brow furrowing. The only hint of softness was in his molten gold eyes which were fixed on Emma's own green irises.

Emma had never been very good with awkward silences and thankfully, the uneasiness of being in the presence of a dominant predator had faded when she had met all of the cats. "Rude," she quipped.

Dead silence.

"If you want a punching bag couldn't you use Manning? Not my witness?" She continued, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks as those gold eyes bore holes into her.

He gracefully stepped away from the neat hole he had punched into the marble. The mummy looked like it had lost a fight with a bulldozer.

"May I have the remains?" Abe piped in, saving Emma from bursting into more frivolous quips. "Dr. Jones and I are going to need to examine them."

The fuming red mass still made not a sound.

Everyone was suddenly moving around the two of them. Clay busying himself giving orders to the agents with them, Abe gingerly moved around the wreckage, picking up shards of bone and linen and placing them in a bag he retrieved from his pocket. The Professor had begun to move to aid Abe when Emma finally spoke up again.

"Did you have to beat him to a pulp?" She repeated with much less sarcasm trying to lighten the mood. The man did not answer. He kept staring at her with those molten eyes, the intensity beginning to burn her from the inside out. "You know I am going to have to put him back together, one shard at a time." She managed to crack a smile. "Come on Red, aren't you going to say hi?" She asked, willing him to speak so she could finally let go of his gaze.

Red opened his mouth as Abe piped up again. "Emma, I've found something."

Thanking the heavens, Emma quickly moved to Abe's side, placing the bit of gold plate in her palm. "Strong fire magic," she determined. "Ancient, damn." She rolled to her heels and stood up again, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Lets clean it up and get the remains back to my lab. I'm working out of –"

"The Sorbonne, we know." Hellboy answered for her, he gave her one last hard stare before brooding his way out the room.

Sighing once again, Emma gave directions and access codes to the agents, and left with the professor.

They walked quietly down the corridor and up the stairs out of the museum. Emma finally broke the silence. "Why did you call me?" She asked.

"We need you," the Professor answered simply.

"You have Abe and a giant forensics team." She pressed.

"And you have a unique gift my dear," he smiled, halting at the two cars waiting for them. "A gifted historian and forensic anthropologist with an abundance of elemental magic at her finger tips. I would be crazy not to call on you. I also thought that you would enjoy this one. An Egyptian robbery, in your neck of the woods, it was a case made for you."

"If I'm so talented," she asked cracking a smile to lighten her words, "then why is this the first time you've asked? You've have been in my neck of the woods before."

"Well that my dear is simple," he smiled, easing himself into his car. "You both needed time."


	3. Feelings

Hellboy was fuming. As he raced from roof-top to roof-top jumping, climbing and thundering along, he let his emotions run free. Why the hell did she have to be here? What the fuck was she doing? Hugging his father, chatting with Clay like they were the best of friends, strolling along and taking over the scene like she fucking owned the place.

He kept forgetting how small she was. So big of presence and so large in his mind that it shocked him a little to see her; short, with masses of curly red hair that she had tied up in a haphazard knot. Her pale skin was flush from the cold and even though the coat and scarf had hidden her frame he remember it well. Strong limbs, soft curves and a hell of a right hook. He even got to see a hint of that grin that had kept him up at night. The sly tilting of her lips, which meant trouble was coming. Trouble, he scoffed. That should be her first, middle and last name.

The small changes he had noticed fueled his adrenaline spike. When he had known Emma she was never quick with her smiles. She was sarcasm, a hot temper and a smarter than you arrogance that was often fueled because she usually was the smartest person in the room. But when she saw Clay she had smiled. In fact she had smiled more in the last hour than he had seen her smile in a week back in Newark.

He had passed their temporary headquarters ages ago but still he kept on going needing to work off the adrenaline in his system. He had fought so many monsters, won so many battles and lost so many friends that he was enraged he still felt like this over some girl he had worked with.

Two years, they had been partners for two years. It had taken six months to get him to go on a job with her and another eight months before he trusted her to have his back completely. He liked to work alone, like to take the hits alone. But for two years he hadn't been alone. There was someone else taking the hits too. He stopped as he reached the outskirts of the city. The lights of the city were a soft glow in the distance. _Dammit_ , he thought as he kicked a stray can, scaring some nearby pigeons. _Dammit all to hell._

In some way he knew he was not being fair. Liz left all the time, so Emma left too, what's the difference? Who was he kidding? Liz leaving was her M.O. She always left for some reason or another. Emma though, Emma never left. No matter what monster, how grouchy he was or what he did, or what she did, he had gotten used to Emma standing by his side. Until she wasn't.

He finally returned to the old mansion that served as headquarters for the time being some four hours after he had left the museum. He was more in control but his temper was still on a hair string. Already as he stalked through the halls, he knew that people were getting out of his way as quickly as possible. He grinned. Being a seven foot demon had its perks sometimes. Throwing the door to the ancient library open he threw himself onto a couch beside his best blue friend and lit a cigar.

"Find anything?" He grumbled, blowing out a puff of smoke.

"Emma looked well," Abe answered without lifting his head from the book he was studying.

Growling Hellboy glared at his friend. "Whatever."

"She is going to be working with us Red. You best try to be civil to her or else she'll set you on fire again." Abe said, ever to the point.

"I'm fire proof." Hellboy grunted, taking another long drag.

Abe flipped the page before giving his dearest friend a long hard stare. "Be nice Red, remember she's your friend."

"What kind of friend leaves in the middle of the night?"

Sighing Abe glanced at his best friend. A child in a grown mans body. "You must ask her that, Red."

Hellboy deepened his frown. "She just fucking left," he murmured. "She just walked away."

Abe decided to stay quiet at that, and continued with his research.


	4. Why did you think I left?

**A/N So the update are not going to happen two chapters a day. I just wanted to get the first four out so you really got a sense of the story and the way I write. Also, all four chapters really go together so it would be confusing to leave it. From now on I'm hoping to update every five or six days. Thanks for the reviews and follows and I hope you enjoy :) Also I just re-watched the movie and realized he's actually 6'5 no 7' so that's going to be changed.**

It was early in the morning when Emma, Abe, Hellboy, the Professor and a spattering of agents converged in Emma's lab deep in the Sorbonne. Her lab was private, sophisticated and in a remote part of the building which guaranteed that her guests would go unnoticed.

She had been up most of the night cleaning and putting the skeleton in order on her titanium forensics table. She had yet to reassemble the skull but she had swabbed the bones and run them through the mass spectrometer, getting readings that were beginning for form a picture.

"He's... odd," she explained to her guests. Abe was hovering over the table with her, the Professor and the Agents were keeping a respectable distance. Clay was lounging in a chair beside her large windows that over looked the courtyard and Hellboy was brooding up against the far wall. She wondered who had convinced him to come. A five in the morning wake up call usually got the messenger shot.

Clearing her throat she continued, "Trace elements lead to the conclusion that he grew up in North Africa, along the Mediterranean and that he had no major illnesses or diseases that I can pick up. His pelvis and femur suggest a male, late thirties of above average height."

"Above average height?" Clay exclaimed bewildered. "He's like four feet!"

Emma smiled a little at his bewilderment, "He's five feet five inches and that's pretty tall for a man in Egypt 3500 years ago." She continued, "What I can make out of his bones it seems he was well fed. Combined with the fine quality of his linen wrappings and the care that was placed in the funeral markings of his canopic jars I would say that we have a wealthy man on our hands."

"Not royalty?" Abe asked, he hand hovering over the remains.

"No, the archaeologists would have mentioned it in their notes when they found him. The grave was not fit for royalty and there wasn't a hint of it being broken into. I'm going to need to see the rest of the notes but from what I've gathered so far his grave was secluded and he was wealthy but not of great importance." She concluded, avoiding the gaze of the red man for reasons she did not want to ponder on.

"Aren't most graves broken into?" Red asked his voice bored.

Shaking her head, she finally addressed him. "No, only those with something of value in them. All this guy had was half a gold amulet stuffed in his mouth. Looks like a typical death marking. Something with his name on it so the gods know him in the afterlife."

"What's his name?" Red grunted, crossing his arms and leaning on a table causing the metal to groaned.

Emma tossed him the dented and worn amulet. Miraculously it had survived Red's beating. "I don't read Ancient Egyptian."

Hellboy caught it deftly and peered at the ancient language. "Akehenotep," he said, "Whoever the hell that was."

"What is so odd about him, Emma?" The professor asked.

Emma looked at the remains, wondering how to word it. "He's too perfect." She finally said, measuring her words exactly.

"Perfect?" Hellboy spoke up, a distinct tone of disillusionment in his voice. "What his skinny bones speak to your feminine wiles?"

Emma just rolled her eyes. Children. "He has no major diseases, he was perfectly healthy." She repeated.

"Completely healthy?" Abe asked, picking up on Emma's thoughts.

"Yes, I can't even find traces of diseases. I don't have a cause of death."

"How peculiar," Abe remarked. Running his hands over the air above the remains.

"What? He was healthy! How is that weird?" Clay remarked. "Hey, Emma you got any food?"

She nodded absently pointing to her desk where her snack stash was. Clay began rummaging through her kale chips and dried fruit and nut stash to the candy bars, chocolate and chips below.

"3500 years ago was primo disease time. No filtered water, minimal sewage, minimal nutrition and shitty health care." Emma trailed off trying to organize her thoughts into words. "He should have had malaria or an STD, hell at the very least he should have the trace markers of a vitamin deficiency but he's perfect!"

Walking over to his legs she pointed out some markings on his femurs and hips. "He was athletic, the wear on his hips suggest horse back riding and this marking on his femur suggests he was cut by a sword. Cuts that deep would be fatal. No antibiotics and poor stitching he would have bled out or died from infection. But this wound healed. He didn't die."

"So what killed him then?" Clay asked, his mouth full of chips.

Emma shrugged. "No idea, I haven't looked at his skull yet, I have an intern putting it together. So hopefully I'll find something there. At the very least our sorcerer chose him for a reason. Any chance he said anything before you smashed his brain in?" she asked looking to Hellboy.

"In case you forgot I'm more of punch first, ask later kinda guy." He snipped.

Coughing to grab the attention of the room, the professor gave out his orders. "The archive staff at the Louvre are sending over the rest of the specimens documentation, hopefully that will give us some clues. Emma, keep searching, I want to know what else is unique about our friend here, and it should lead to more about our sorcerer. Abe, our agents are almost finished putting the Louvre back together."

He frowned glancing at Hellboy for a brief moment before turning back to Abe. "Would you mind coming with me for a final sweep. I want to make sure we haven't missed anything." Abe nodded his acquiesce stepping out of the room with the other agents.

"And you," he turned to Hellboy. "Keep your eyes open and-"

"Try not to be seen." Hellboy finished for him, taking out a cigar.

The professor smiled. "Watch Emma, would you? Clay, you're with me."

As the room emptied, Emma became more and more aware of Hellboy's presence. It was quiet for a few moments before she broke the silence.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" She asked with a calm she did not feel, studying the bones.

"What?"

"Can I get you something? Water, coffee, 99% proof liquor?" she repeated.

"No." Came his gruff reply. The silence lasted for a few more moments before the tension overwhelmed her.

"Well can you stop staring, I'm not a car wreck."

He huffed, not turning his gaze. "I'm not staring."

"Bullshit." She growled, her attention wavering as she became more annoyed.

"Excuse me?" he asked, a dangerous tone creeping into his voice.

"Nothing" she mumbled, _now is not the time to get in a fight with the red ape,_ she thought. Examining the mummy's tibia she tried to ignore the sharp tap of Red's tail on the floor.

 _Could this mummy get any weirder?_ She wondered taking another sample off of the bone before gently placing it back on the table. 3500 years and these bones look like they're still fresh. The markings, their density, everything about them had the markings of bones that were at most 100 years old. Even then she would bet her PhD it was the bones of the healthiest person alive.

Taking some deep breaths that she had learned in yoga she tried to focus her magic on the bones. When the professor said Emma had elemental magic he wasn't kidding. Earth, air, water and fire were at her fingertips. More scientifically, Emma could control those molecules, feel them, even create them when needed. She could conjure water and fire from thin air; move the earth beneath her feet and suck the oxygen from a room. The big showy, fireball stuff was easy, get her pissed enough and she could conjure hell. The hard stuff was this, the work that required finesse. She was trying to feel the individual molecules, the elements in the bone and not only figure out their age but their history. See what story they told. On rare occasions, she had been known to pull a murder's perfume from bones of the victim twenty years after the fact. She had tried to find out the science behind her magic, hell it's why she got a PhD in the first place. See if there was any method to her madness. She had long ago given up on that hope. The day she gets the red monkey into a tuxedo is the day she figures out why she got 'blessed' with Earth, Wind and Fire.

"I would have a lot easier time figuring this out if you would shut the hell up." She muttered under her breath. Hellboy had begun pacing as well as continuing the infuriating tapping of his tail.

"What was that?" he growled in her general direction. Damn his excellent hearing.

"Nothing." She grumbled trying and failing to focus her magic.

"Whole lota nothing." He snapped, picking up everyone of her instruments and dropping them unceremoniously back on the metal tables.

Clack, clang, bang.

"Would you stop!?" She exclaimed placing the bone carefully back down before whirling at him. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

Hellboy just looked smug. Asshole.

"Can you just go get me some coffee? The café downstairs is open early." She said wearily.

"No."

Emma sighed, "Then can you just sit outside the door so I can have five minutes of silence?"

"No."

"Fuck you." She growled feeling her hands heat up.

"Hmm. No." He said with a playful smirk.

Emma resisted lighting him on fire; it may damage her lab.

"It's magic but it's not." She murmured getting up to take a sip of her water bottle.

"What the hell does that mean?" He asked, pushing off the far wall to step closer to her.

"He is 3500 years old. His bones look fucking new." Emma was pacing now, running her hands through her hair. "It has to be magic," she continued. "It has to be magic and I can't bloody feel any magic."

"Losing your touch, Sparky?" He asked, that smug grin still plastered on his face. "Never pegged you for having performance issues. I mean I always thought that when the moment came you would live up to all your talk."

 _Fine, you want to be like that._ "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. Her eyes wide and her lips parted.

"About what?" He came closer to her, staring her down. She pretended to not be intimidated by the six and a half foot demon staring at her with hard gold eyes.

"Whatever is causing you to get your little pink panties in a twist! I don't want to deal with it so either spill or leave." She shouted.

Hellboy's face got a deep shade of purple and she swore she saw his horns grow a little.

"Hey! Listen you little - I don't have a problem and I'm not leaving, father told me to watch you." He snarled, poking a finger at her.

Swatting it away Emma took a step back as he took one more forward she was aware she was dangerously close to setting the lab on fire. _I wonder how much heat he could really handle._

"The way I heard it, it was more of a request than anything. And I need to work if you want to pummel the daylights out of anything any time soon so –"

"So what?" he interrupted. Setting his jaw into a hard line. "You're going to what leave, unless I play nice?"

Her mouth opened in shock. Did he not read her letters? Listen to her voicemail's? She knew she had drunk dialed him at least once. Judging by the hard set of his jaw she would guess he didn't. Emma took a step closer to him so she was inches away from his face.

"That's what this is about?" She asked incredulously. "That's what you're mad about?" the glare in his eyes told her everything she needed to know.  
"Hellboy it was two years ago and I solved a headache for you!" She glared at him.

"My partner leaving solved which headache again? Because having no one to watch my back was a real pain in the ass!" He growled.

"Says the man who prefers to work alone." She yelled.

He took a step closer to her, his tail twitching wildly. "Partners don't just leave, Emma." The way he spat her name caused her to take a step back.

"Jesus Christ Red, I was doing you a favor!" She blurted out.

"Excuse me?" He growled, his voice going impossibly deep.

"Liz, the jealous ball of rage and insecurity? Remember how she hated me?" Emma spit back.

"What? Liz didn't hate you!" He exclaimed.

"You're right on a good day she tolerated me, on a bad she tried to light me on fire."

"Well it's not like she hurt you!" He said.

"God! You and your thick head! Let me spell it out for you since you forgot. When the Paris Bureau called I took the fucking job so you and Liz could get your shit together without me there to fuck it up!" She cried gesturing wildly as she ranted.

"I tried to tell you this but you wouldn't listen. Liz was in an insecure place and you wanted her so badly, and I wanted my friends to finally be happy so I stepped out of the equation. You knew I always dreamed of living in Paris and I wanted you to have a real shot with her so it was the perfect solution. How was I supposed to know you'd fucking lose it and never speak to me again?!" Emma was enraged now.

Yes, she had caught a red eye out of Newark but she had called him and tried to explain the next morning. She had spent six months emailing, sending letters and calling trying to talk to her big, red ape but he had never spoken to her. Abe had said that things with Liz weren't going well, but Emma was still enraged that Red hadn't even called her back. So, she had boxed him up and filed him away as best she could. Didn't take long for that box to explode.

"You left so Liz and I could have a chance?" Hellboy said slowly. Emma was so angry she didn't see the widening in his eyes.

"Have you not been listening? Job, friends happily ever after, Paris. It was a no brainer." She exclaimed. It was only half true but she didn't care. Being vulnerable was not on the list of her priorities right now.

"You left Emma." He said, a defeated note in his tone.

"I didn't leave you!" She screamed. "It was only supposed to be for ten months. Enough time for me to enjoy Paris and for you and Liz to sort your shit out! But you never fucking answered me so I stayed! How was I supposed to know you were going to be a fucking douchlord about it?" Emma's hands were on fire as she lost a bit of control. She was trying so hard to reign herself in that when Hellboy took a step back and ran his hand through his hair she hardly noticed.

"You left for me and Liz?" he murmured to himself. "So we could have a chance?"

"Yes!" She hollered, finally getting the fire under control. "Why the fuck did you think I left?"

Hellboy opened his mouth to answer her when there was a crash and the glass of the windows shattered on to them. Throwing himself in front of her, Hellboy wrapped Emma in his arms, shielding her from any falling debris.

"What are you doing?" she exclaimed trying to work her way around him. She was steadily ignoring the jolt of electricity that pulsed through her as their bodies pressed up against each other. Judging from the tightening of his jaw and the way he held on a little tighter she guessed he felt it too. _Two years was not long enough_

"I heal fast," he grunted arching himself over her.

A pulse of magic swept through the room and Emma lifted her head over Red's shoulder to see a tall man in black swoop through the window and retrieve the mummy's remains. Hellboy let her go and dashed towards the man as Emma iced the windows over to halt his escape. Just as Hellboy had his hand on the man's coat, the remains vanished into thin air. The man tore himself away from Hellboy's grasp as Emma threw a fireball at him. The man vanished just as the fireball caught his coat.

"Aw crap." Hellboy exclaimed. Emma kicked the nearest stool letting out her own cry of profanity.


	5. Coffee is better with a friend

**A/N I'm the worst sorry this took so bloody long. Thanks to everyone who's still reading :)**

"You let what happen?!" Thomas Manning's discorded voice howled over the blackberry the team was currently hunched over.

"A creature breaks into the Louvre, raises a mummy then steals the mummy from you and vanishes into thin air and you have nothing to go on! What am I paying you people for?" Manning roared. As director of the BPRD Manning took his job controlling the freaks very seriously, which often lead to him roaring at them without taking in all the facts.

"I sent you over there to take care of this not endanger more humans!" Manning yelled, launching into a tirade about ungrateful monsters and slacking on the job.

Emma glanced quickly over at Hellboy and took in the tight clenching of his jaw and the stiff way he held himself. She knew with absolute certainty that it was taking every ounce of his will power to not roar back at Manning.

Finally, Professor Brume cut Manning off. "We'll solve it." He said simply, closing the phone and looking wearily at the group. Clay was leaning up against the far wall of Emma's lab, arms crossed and a frown deepening on his forehead. Abe was hovering over the exam table where the bones used to be, his hands making smooth strokes through the air. Hellboy was hunched in a chair, his tail beating a sharp staccato on the floor while his fists repeatedly clenched and un-furled. Emma was trying to keep calm, she had learned how to calm her temper these last two years, hadn't she? She was pacing up and down, feeling violated that her lab had been broken into.

No one spoke for the longest of moments. Finally, the Professor lifted his head and gave the orders. "Emma, did you get anything else from the bones?"

She shook her head. "He was in barely twenty minutes after you had left."

Sighing the professor looked at Clay. "Call the contacts, I want everyone on high alert. See what chatter you can find about this…man." Glancing at Abe he continued, "Find anything?" When Abe shook his head stating that it was the same sort of magic from the earlier break in, just stronger, Brume nodded in thought. "Come with me. We'll go to the Louvre and start there. Research is our best bet at this moment."

With that statement, Hellboy's tail shot down with a loud thud. Turing to his son, Trevor Brummeholm smiled slightly. "You cannot pummel; him if you don't know where he is." Hellboy rolled his eyes muttering something about tracking the bastard down himself.

Ignoring him Trevor continued. "Emma, clean up and meet us at the mansion, we'll start the research there, Son." He turned again addressing the large, angry demon. "Watch her, I don't want any surprises. We always go in pairs from now on." Nodding to himself, he left with Abe, not sparing Emma or Hellboy another glance as he became absorbed in thought.

Emma glanced around her lab. The usually pristine steel and concrete room was a shambles. After the man had vanished Hellboy had taken out his frustration on a few of her examination tables, bending the steel with his right fist. Emma had gone hot then cold, causing the widows to fog as she set herself on fire before turning to ice in a matter of moments. After they had been left alone, Emma had calmed herself, now she was freezing cold and weary. He had violated her lab, her sanctuary; she was so frustrated she felt tears welling up.

Fighting with Hellboy is not what she wanted. She had imagined their meeting many different ways; none of them included her blowing up at him in her lab then getting her evidence stolen right from under her. Running her hand through her hair, she sighed in frustration.

"I need coffee," she murmured.

"We can go get some coffee, then your apartment." Hellboy said, sounding nearly as weary as Emma felt.

"I don't need a babysitter, Hellboy." Emma said straightening her button up shirt and smoothing her hair. "I know it has been a while since I have been in the field but I can still take care of myself and you probably have better things to do than babysit me."

That little speech earned her half a smile. "It has been a while so maybe you've forgotten but at this stage in the game I don't have anything to do." He said, checking the bullets in the Samaritan. "I'm more of a hit man you know."

She almost laughed.

"Only research I do is how to kill things, since I don't know what this is, I don't got nothing to kill yet." She knew that was a bit of a lie but let it slide anyways.

"So I'm stuck with you?" She tried to sound bored but she couldn't help but smile.

"You're stuck with me, sweetheart."

Rolling her eyes, Emma muttered, "I'm going to need a bigger cup of coffee."

It was still early for Paris, barely passed seven. But even so, walking into a café with seven-foot bright red man with blunted horns and a huge gun was pushing it. This was Paris, not New York. So, Emma found herself on a ledge above the café trying not to laugh as a red tail swooped down to grab coffee from the bar.

"You know I could have just gone down there?" Emma said as Red's tail spilled some coffee over her dark jeans.

"Yeah well, this is more fun." He said, chuckling as the waiters argued with each other over the missing coffee.

"Time to go," he said. "Before they look up."

Before she knew it, Emma was being hoisted up onto a large red shoulder and she was flying through the air.

Damn he's fast. Up and up Hellboy climbed the building up all six stories and she was unceremoniously plopped onto the roof.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Way to dump my coffee all over me."

"What?" He asked with a shit-eating grin.

Rolling her eyes again, Emma sipped what was left of her americano and took in the view.

"Damn," she sighed, a light smile touching her lips. "Never get tired of the view."

"Yeah," Hellboy said softly behind her. "It really is something."

"Annie was right I should get out more." Emma laughed.

"Annie?"

"My intern, she's new, just finished a masters in Australia –"

Hellboy watched in deep amusement and a little apprehension as Emma's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"I'm an idiot." She said.

"Coulda told you that." He said.

"Annie!" she cried a huge smile on her face.

"Annie?..."

"Annie has the skull, I sent it to her last night she would have started like now!" she said the words rushing out and jumbling together.

She beelined towards the side of the building.

"Emma you can't-"

There was a sudden rush of wind, and Emma flew over the adjacent building in the Sorbonne and into a window.

"Damn," Hellboy said, he jaw open. She had learned a few tricks.

It was a few minutes before he caught up to Emma, she running full stride towards a set of stairs. Using his long stride, he caught up to her quickly and gently pushed her behind him.

"Bulletproof guy goes first." He said earning himself another eye roll. They both wondered if she would get a headache from it.

They descended the stairs fast, Emma motioning to the correct corridor and then the door, which lead to Annie's workspace.

"Does she know about you?" Red asked, pausing at the doorway. She wondered why he even asked - Emma was never one to be open about her life, let alone her abilities.

Emma shook her head. "No, I better go first, guard the hall?"

He nodded, pulling out a gun and a knife and thrusting them into her hands. "Just in case." He said, closing her fingers over them.

She nodded hoping she wouldn't need them as she shoved the blade into her boot and the gun into her waistband. Pulling her keycard out of her pocket Emma swiped it as Hellboy took his sentry position.

The second the steel door opened Emma knew it was too late. The worst part about her abilities was that the elements tended to permeate everything and in the past 10 years, she had learned the smells; the fresh smell of the air before it rained, the lovely smell of fire before something was reborn, and the stink of death. So, when Emma opened the door and smelled the sour, putrid smell, she closed the door.

"We're too late." She said taking a few deep breaths.

"Dead?" Hellboy asked, the Samaritan already in his hand.

"Yeah." She murmured.

HB nodded, moving in front of her, "Let me clear the room, call Clay."

Emma just nodded, phone in hand.

Hellboy entered the room and Emma called Clay. It was a short conversation, she had had too many of them before. She hung up and took a few deep breaths preparing herself to go inside when she heard the shot of a gun followed by what she assumed had to have been Hellboy smashing through a wall the sound was so deafening.

"Shit."

Storming in the room gun in hand Emma ducked quickly as a metal stool flew over her head. Sending a ball of ice towards whoever threw it she quickly ducked behind an over turned metal table and listened and felt.

Hellboy was to her left, regaining his balance after going through a wall, whoever was trying to kill them was directly in front of the table. Its movements were clumsy and it kept banging into things. Quickly Emma popped up from the table and fired two shots. Ducking down she swore. Annie.

Only it wasn't Annie it was Annie's corps resurrected and with a mission, kill.

The shots hadn't stopped her, just left her left arm lame. As Hellboy finally got to his feet and reached for the Samaritan Emma knew, she had to work fast. Hellboy would beat this one to a pulp too leaving nothing behind, Emma wanted it in one piece.

She popped back up and threw an arctic blast towards the corps. Annie's icy white hair froze first. Then her tanned skin blistered and froze black before her movements slowed and stopped. The last thing to move where Annie's eyes, changed from their normal deep brown to a solid white, the tell tail sign of a resurrection.

Emma had Annie frozen a bare half-second before Hellboy's gun blasted.

"Just to make sure," he said trying to explain the hole in the corps' stomach.

Emma couldn't even muster up a quip. She simply sat down and stared at the frozen corps.

"I'm sorry." Hellboy said, sitting beside her. "Was she a friend?"

Emma shook her head, "I don't have friends, Red, this," she said gesturing to the scene in front of her. "It's hard enough as it is."

"I know," Red said. And he did.


	6. Food break

It took three hours of forensics, $50,000 dollars in hush money and Hellboy and Clay lifting the frozen corps into a garbage truck before Brume declared the scene clean.

Emma had stayed for most of it, working with a clinical detachment that had been perfected years ago. Hellboy was also uncharacteristically silent. When Manning had yelled over the phone about the civilian casualty Hellboy hadn't even grunted. No one wanted the case to get this far and they all agreed with Manning – it was getting out of control and fast.

Brume had told them to pack up and meet at Headquarters to regroup. The skull was gone, as were Annie's notes. For the second time that day, Brume gave his marching orders. Always in pairs, on guard and work fast. No one wanted the body count to go up.

Abe had offered to stay with Emma and Hellboy but she had shooed him away. He needed to research and Emma needed a few moments to herself.

"We better go. I have to stop at my apartment if I'm staying at HQ." She sighed. The professor had made it clear that she was not staying on her own until they had a handle on the situation.

"You don't live in HQ?" Hellboy asked. His voice laced with genuine surprise.

"No," she said, "I persuaded them to let me live off campus."

He laughed at that, it was small, but it was something "What did you do? Set the suits on fire until they let you out?"

She grinned as he laughed. She had miss his laugh. "Nah, just hung them up by their ankles. Said they needed to see things from a different angle."

He continued to chuckle as she gathered her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yeah…" he paused observing her for a moment. "We okay?"

She considered him for a moment. "You still mad at me?"

"Maybe," He answered. "Are you still mad at me?"

She sighed again, rubbing the palm of her hand on her eyes. "Why didn't you return my calls?"

"I…it's complicated." He answered lamely.

She nodded, she had bigger things to worry about than her complicated relationship with Hellboy right now. A heavy hand fell on her shoulder. "I know it's been a long time but we were good partners, Emma. We can do it for another case."

Her eyes widened and she was sure flies were going to zoom into her mouth. Maybe children did grow up. She observed him for a moment. He looked the same, maybe he was the same, or maybe he had grown up. But she knew she wasn't the same girl he had partnered with. "Two years is a long time, Hellboy," she said. "Things change."

He nodded looking defeated. "But," she said. "We can partner up for this case and make it work."

Taking a huge half demon on the subway was unthinkable so Emma and Hellboy found themselves traipsing their way through the streets of Paris, hiding in alleyways and ducking behind buildings and dumpsters avoiding the gazes of passerbyers. Emma had explained to HB that her flying trick actually took a lot of juice and since she was hungry and tired, she wasn't up to using her energy hopping from rooftop to rooftop. Thus, they ended playing hide and go seek from Parisians. About twenty minutes in Emma began to relax; it had been a long time since she had done her ninja impersonation. Pushing her guilt, sadness and remorse for her intern's death into a tiny little box in the back of her mind she focused where she was and what she was doing. However, she did try to forget who she was with. As they moved towards southern Paris and the train tracks she couldn't help but stare at him, he was so large but so light on his feet when he wanted to.

"Spending to much time with those bloody cats." She murmured to herself. Forgetting his increased hearing, she blushed when he turned to her and gave her a wink. As they came upon a particularly grungy alleyway Emma motioned for him to stop, a slight smile curving her mouth.

"What? Do you hear anything?" he asked, coming closer to her, one hand on his gun.

"No, no, can you wait here for a minute?" she asked, pushing him into a shadowy corner and trying to fit him between the dumpsters.

"What? No!" he growled but he still let her man handle him into the corner.

"Shush would you? I'll be right back!" As she turned, he grabbed her hand pulling her back to him.

"Father's right. We don't know what we're dealing with, be careful and take this." He said, shoving his Samaritan gun into her hand.

Smirking she looked down at the gun before meeting his gaze. "Thanks, but I can't lift that thing and in case you forgot, you already gave me a gun idiot." She gave him a wink and left, running down the alley.

Hellboy waited for Emma with his thoughts spinning a mile a minute. How had everything gotten so messed up in such a short amount of time? Two years ago, when Emma had left, Hellboy hadn't known what to think. That entire time was just so messed up.

They had finished a difficult case, Liz had lost control, Emma was recovering from a gunshot wound and Manning was up his ass again. Liz had come to him for comfort, and comfort was one thing he knew he could provide for her. He had curled up Liz in his arms and held on tight. He could give her what she needed; it was easy, familiar to him. He had grown up with Liz. She had come to the Bureau when she was eleven and ever since she had been stuck to his side. A little sister. When that had changed he didn't know but over time he began to think that maybe, maybe they could have something. They knew each other so well, he trusted her with his life, and she was weird too.

So, when he was faced with Liz and Emma laying in the infirmary he was surprised that he was torn over who to go to first. But it didn't matter, those messy days with Liz crying and bursting into tantrums and then dissolving into deep bouts of depression and Emma hanging on by a hair. He did whatever he could for both of them or at least that's what he kept telling himself. In fact, he wasn't sure what he was doing, spending the days calming Liz and putting out fires, the nights holding Emma's hand as she fought to heal herself.

Liz had lashed out at Emma as soon as Emma was on her feet, Emma had dolled it right back, and Abe said both were scared for different reasons. Hellboy was just trying to protect them all. Then it got worse. Liz accused him of having feelings for Emma, he hadn't known what to say, which apparently was the wrong answer. His feelings for Emma were messy, complicated and confusing. Emma was a firecracker who drove him insane. So, when Liz pressed him he delved deeper into himself until about a week after his fight with Liz, Emma was released from the infirmary.

He had told her not to go on the case, that he would take care of it, and after all how bad could a couple of werewolves be? But, she hadn't listened. And when Emma nearly got herself killed again, he lost it. He screamed at her, she raged at him and set him on fire but he just kept coming. They both said things he'd rather forget. The next day she had left. She called him twelve hours later from Paris, leaving a nice and cheery message but the damage was done. They had been partners for three years. Been through hell and back, but in typical fashion, he hadn't realized the place she held in his life until she was gone.

Hellboy raised his head as he heard soft footfalls coming closer. He recognized her jasmine scent before he saw her coming around the corner, a small smile on her face. Carrying the largest crepes he had ever seen he pushed a dumpster out of the way and Emma plopped herself down right beside him.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked staring at her incredulously.

"What?" she shrugged. "It's not like you've never taken a snack break before."

"We're in the middle of a mission, Emma!" he exclaimed as she handed him a hot, gooey crepe filled with cheese, meat and salad.

"Eat it while it's hot." She said, stuffing a crepe with Nutella and banana in her mouth. "And seriously Red, remember Turkey? You just had to stop to eat the roast pig. Even though those vampires were on our asses."

"I carried it with me, and I needed to refuel." He defended himself, watching her eat. _Did she care that there was a rat four feet away from her?_ She used to, but maybe things had changed.

She rolled her eyes, licking her fingers. "Does Liz kiss you with your mouth full of bullshit?" she asked, a twinkle back in her eye.

He was silent, at loss for words by her easy nature and the way they just fell back into an easy friendship. It was like they had never argued, she never left, and they hadn't just packed up a corps. In other words, things were back to normal.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you going to eat that?" She asked thrusting her chin at his crepe.

He shoved it into his mouth in one giant bite.

"Nasty, " she deadpanned, rising to her feet.

Emma's apartment was tiny. Hellboy had to stoop to fit in. It was all crème and red. A small bed dominated a corner with large fluffy pillows and a thick comforter. A tiny kitchen was set up in the opposite corner, Fresh fruit in a bowel and half a baguette wrapped neatly on a cutting board. There were a couple of soft chairs, a small table and a large bookshelf filling the rest of the room. There were knick-knacks thrown all around the place, small Egyptian and African deities, photos from her travels and blankets thrown over the chairs. Hellboy couldn't help but compare her current quarters with the ones at the BPRD. There her room was filled with books in piles and papers and artifacts. It was a library with a bed. He couldn't help but feel that this was the home of someone who lived. There were pictures of friends, books for pleasure not research and bottles of fine wine he pictured her sharing with good company. He was jealous all of the sudden of her living a life he never could. He felt more out of place here than he ever had before with her. Hell, there were even flowers. A large bouquet of red roses was on her kitchen counter.

Hellboy grunted, someone must have bought them for her, she hated roses. Wandering her apartment, he opened the tiny bathroom, surprised to see a hoard of make up and hair product.

"What the hell…" he muttered staring at the foreign objects.

"What, you just realized I'm a girl?" She laughed, coming up behind him and pushing her way in. He realized then that he had never seen her with makeup on.

"You need all this?" he asked.

"You need all those charms?" she retorted.

"Yup."

"Good," she said with a huff. "Cause I need all this. Get out." She ordered.

"What?"

"I'm taking a shower, I smell like death, garbage and back alleyways, plus I don't trust rats not to give me the plague. I'm showering, get out." She shuddered when she spoke of the rat. Hellboy smiled to himself, so she still hated rats, he didn't know why that thought made him happy.

"You always this bossy?" he teased, hoping she remembered their age-old argument, searching for more familiarity.

"You know it," she smirked closing the door in his face.

Close enough.

Thirty minutes later Hellboy was flipping through some ancient mythology books refreshing his memory on creatures who lived in France when Emma came out of the bathroom.

He had to remember to breath. She was wearing a robe. For the first time in two days she looked vulnerable. Her hair hung wet down her back, her face was finally make-up free and the dark circles were apparent beneath her red-rimmed eyes. She grabbed some clothes from her closet before starting to walk back.

Jumping up he grabbed her wrist. She turned to him, knowing where this was going before he moved. Still she let him gather her into a hug. It lasted for just a moment before they both moved away. It was enough. They had both lost friends, acquaintances, people they just couldn't save. Everything that ever needed to be said had been said years ago. So, it was just a hug, a nod and a small smile before she turned away. Twenty minutes later she was ready. Dressed in dark jeans, a black tank top and a worn black leather jacket she threw a bag over to Hellboy.

"It's heavy." He noted, wondering if he was ever going to come up with something witty to say.

"Good thing you're strong then" she smiled. Retrieving her messenger bag, which she slung over her body. "Guess you don't want to take the metro?"

He shook his head. "You got a car?"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Bureau doesn't pay well enough for parking."


	7. Come Back

The Mansion that housed the European base of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Detection was in Versailles, a suburb a little outside of Paris. Versailles was an old neighbourhood, dominated by the Palace of Versailles, a gaudy monstrosity of luxury. The mansion which Hellboy and Emma found themselves outside of was large and gloomy, a Napoleonic era home built to house twelve and with gates built to keep out the beggars and any untowards revolutionaries. The inside was clean enough; it staffed about fifteen full time employees and twenty agents. Emma was the only supernatural on staff and things were currently slow.

They walked through the large halls and Emma directed them down a flight of stairs that lead to the underground bunker. Steel and concrete plated it was very similar to the BPRD back in New York. Abe was already there in a makeshift tank that they had purchased from an aquarium a while back. Clay was at his side, flipping pages and yawning.

"What took you so long?" he yawned, stretching his arms behind him.

"Decided to walk," Hellboy answered in his deep baritone.

"You couldn't drive?" Clay retorted.

"Why on earth would anyone want to drive in the city?" Emma asked mirroring Clay in her stretches.

"Find anything?" Hellboy asked, thudding down on the nearest, and biggest, chair he could find.

"Yes," Abe answered. "It seems the magic preformed in the Louvre and in the Lab were from two different entities of the same species."

Emma groaned. "I hate it when they decide to gang up."

"What the hell has a scan of dead/human/ancient?" Hellboy asked, leaning back to light and cigar.

"Necromancer?" Abe offered looking up from his books.

Emma shrugged. "An ancient one though? Usually I would say vampire but…"

"Too much human in the power signature. Vamps get less human with age. It doesn't mix." Hellboy offered, finishing Emma sentence.

"Whatever it is, I want to take care of it so we can get out of here." Clay offered, sitting down on the couch beside Emma. "My kid's birthday is next week and if I'm not there my wife is going to shoot me."

"Maureen finally lay down the law?" Emma asked.

"Oh yeah," Hellboy answered, cutting Clay off. "If he's not home by six she's down at the Bureau chewing us all a new asshole."

Clay looked to his grinning comrades before shrugging. "She worries about me." He said with a note of pride in his voice.

The three of them sat in silence, taking turns to flip Abe's pages and pour through the books laid out on the table. While Clay and Emma flipped through the books, Hellboy had produced a cigar from seemingly thin air and was well on his way to giving them all lung cancer when a handsome man walked into the room.

"Michael," Emma said getting up to greet the man. He was a tall, with a strong jaw and clear blue eyes. In his early thirties, he was broad shouldered and wore a clean-cut navy suit, which fitted him perfectly. Hellboy instantly disliked him; Clay instantly wanted to be him.

"Emma," he matched her smile reaching forward to give her a kiss. "I'm sorry to hear about your lab and about Annie."

"It's okay." She murmured, turning to face her companions. "Abe, Clay, Red, this is Michael Stiles, he's with Interpol, currently runs liaison for us." Michael reached forward to shake Clay's hand. Hellboy didn't bother to get up but rather appraised the man with a furrowed brow and a frown.

"Pleasure to meet you." Clay said. He gave Emma a quick wink letting her know he heartily approved of her choices.

Emma rolled her eyes at Clay, as she moved forward. "Red, Michael's really into Scottish and Irish mythology, you should see some of his books while you're here." Michael looked at Hellboy with nothing more than warmth in his eyes.

"Emma's told me so much about you. It would be great if we could find time to –"

Hellboy cut him off. "I don't think so bub, case takes a lot of time."

Michael nodded, unfazed. "I flew in on the red eye, do you want to get me up to speed, darling?"

It took twenty minutes to fill him in. Abe explaining the research, Clay describing in great detail the fights, recounting how Hellboy had destroyed the mummy and then how HB and Emma had taken on a reanimated corpse and had her frozen down the hall.

"Frozen corpse?" Michael asked with a smile.

"Hey! You know a better way to preserve evidence?" Emma asked. She wasn't paying too much attention to Michael though; she couldn't help her eyes wandering to Hellboy's. He looked…in all honestly Emma didn't quite know what to make of his expression. He looked neutral to the average person but Emma knew him, she knew that that particular neutral expression hid whatever he didn't want the world to see.

Michael shook his head and gave her a quick peck on the top of her head, bringing her back into the present.

Hellboy grunted, "Can we focus?" Not taking care to notice the strange looks being thrown his way.

"Abe," Emma started, fiddling with the silver ring on her right hand. "When you said the two attacks were different entities, what lead you to that conclusion?"

Abe turned his focus back to one of his only friends in the world and he considered her question. "The power levels were different. The signatures were similar though. Both reads were the same."

"Shit," Emma said rubbing her eyes. It may have only been early afternoon but Emma felt like she had been awake for years.

Clay looked the way Emma felt. "Want to take bets?" He asked.

"Bets?" Michael questioned, getting himself comfortable on the small couch beside Emma.

"Yeah, a thing we do. Bet on what it is we're chasing and whose going to kill it. Loser buys the beer, winner gets a cigar." Clay said excitedly. He _loved_ the betting. Originally, it had been a way to figure out who got one of Manning's Cuban cigars. After a successful mission he always gave one to the professor, who would give it to the kids.

Liz never wanted the cigar but played anyway. Abe abstained and served as judge. Hellboy always declared he would kill it and he didn't care what it was. It was Clay and Emma who really got down to it. Emma was usually right on what the creature was, Clay was often right on who ended up killing it. However, it was always Hellboy and Emma who ended up wrestling for the cigar while Clay and Abe shared a beer and Liz looked on in disapproval.

"Yeah," Hellboy said, taking a huge drag off his cigar. "Let's bet."

"Two different sorcerers, fighting over who can raise the biggest zombie army! Hellboy smashes them both to bits!" Clay declared jumping in his chair like a small child.

Emma smiled as Hellboy considered his bet.

"I kill it, it's probably just a couple of rouge sorcerers who are in over their heads." Hellboy said confidently.

They all turned their heads to Emma who weighed her options.

"Two necromancers, master and apprentice and I don't like it." She finally said.

"Thought you ruled out necromancer?" Clay asked.

She just shook her head, deep in thought. "The first magic signature was too low, did a piss poor job of resurrecting the mummy but the second guy? Couldn't be the same. Way more powerful and he just disappeared. Teleporting requires serious juice; he's obviously been practicing a while. And…Annie." She said, pushing the feelings down. "Annie was resurrected beautifully; strong, fast and completely independent. It was masterfully done."

She let her words hang for a moment, lost in thought. Finally, she finished her bet.

"Red kills the apprentice, the master is mine."

"So that's the gang." Michael stated as he held the door open to his quarters for Emma.

His quarters were military style, very few possessions and standard bedding and appliances. The only personal possessions were a photo of his sister and mother and a photo of Michael and Emma taken on her birthday last year. They were on top of the Eiffel tower, a big goofy smile on Michael's face and a smirk on Emma's.

"Yup," she said throwing her bag onto the floor and toeing off her shoes. "That's the gang. Clay, Abe and Red."

"Do you think he would let me call him Red?" Michael asked.

"Only if you want him to shoot you. He doesn't play nice with others." She chuckled. She couldn't believe she was finally reconciling the two halves of her lives. She was glad that so far it wasn't a complete shit show. Having Michael in the same room as Clay and Abe was…it was nice. Michael could have a beer and laugh with Clay, and talk science with Abe.

"He plays nice with you." Michael commented.

"He just doesn't like people he doesn't know." Emma explained quickly hoping that would be the end of it. She set puttering about the room moving her things into drawers as she prepared for a long stay.

"Up until yesterday morning you were convinced he didn't like you." Michael pointed out.

"We argued, we got it off our chests, we're good now."

 _Why did you think I left?_ She had screamed at him. Emma had given reasons, but she knew they weren't the only ones; she had just never opened that box labelled Hellboy in her mind. It was too messy and would just end up with her getting hurt.

"You're good?" Michael asked. "Are you ever going to explain what happened between the two of you, Emma?"

"What are you talking about? I told you!" Emma was beginning to feel like she was being interrogated.

"You told me you left because you always wanted to live in Paris and you and your partner were not getting along. Later that changed to your partner's girlfriend hated you and then you just stopped talking."

Emma was silent for a moment, not sure what exactly to say or do.

"Michael," she said softly, coming over to him. She ran her hand over his cheek gently, pushing him back so he his knees hit the bed, she pushed him a little harder forcing him to sit down.

She climbed onto his lap as he shifted to get a hold on her waist as she settled down. Running her hands through his hair and pushing herself up against him she settled her lips on his neck slowly dragging them up to his jaw.

"Emma," he murmured, groaning a little as she nibbled on his jaw moving to his ear.

"Yes?" she asked, grinning wickedly as she tugged his earlobe gently with her teeth.  
"Are you trying to distract me?"

Shifting back so she could see him fully she leaned back and took her top off revealing a plain black bra that lifted her assets into bombshell territory.

"No," she said, kissing him lightly in between her words. "Maybe I'm trying to distract me too." She gave him a wicked little smirk before he got the hint, leaning backwards and pulling her on top of him.

Some hours, some good sex and a stack of mythology books later Emma finally had to admit that the adrenaline was wearing off and she was dead tired. She was staring at the coffee filter wondering why she poured whole coffee grounds into the filter and why she wasn't doing anything about it.

A small chuckled came from behind her causing her to jump halfway out of her skin.

"How are you so bloody quiet?" Emma asked the giant red man who was the only other soul in the small and only kitchen in the mansion. How anyone that big was that quiet was a kind of sorcery that Emma would never understand.

"You know you have to grind those first?" He said, leaning casualty against the counter.

She just squinted her eyes at the beans wondering if she could grind them with the power of her mind.

Instead she set them on fire.

"Shit!" she muttered, mustering up water in her hand. Before she could drench the small fire a large red hand put it out.

"You okay?" He asked, a small smile quirking his lips.

"Tired," she mumbled leaning against the counter. They were beside each other now, her head rolled to rest on his arm comfortably. She always did like how bloody warm he was.

They stood there in comfortable silence for a few moments, before Hellboy spoke.

"You're not going to be any help when you're this tired. Get some sleep, I'll take you to your room." He made like he was about pick her up before she mumbled something about staying in Michael's room.

He moved back to where he was standing looking down on her. "So, Michael?"

"Yeah?" She asked.

"You uh…you…" He stammered.

"What?" She asked, a little sleepy. He was very warm and she was beginning to give into how tired she was.

"How long?" He asked.

"Officially? I don't know. It just…it just happened?" She said it like a question, she honestly wasn't sure.

He just nodded seemingly lost for words. She worked up a huge yawn ending in the smallest groan as she tried to stretch herself out a little. They stayed like that for a moment longer before he nudged her with his shoulder and asked her a question she did not expect.

"Are you going to come back?" He asked it quietly, almost like he wasn't sure if he wanted to voice it at all.

She turned to him quickly watching his face. The neutral mask had fallen and all she saw was anxiety and hesitation.

"You mean back to the States?" She murmured.

He nodded silently.

"I don't know." She said honestly.

"Emma… I –" He got cut off as the Professor entered the kitchen and set out making himself a cup of tea.

Hellboy stood up fully and nudged Emma with his arm. "Come on lets get you to bed," he said lowly, guiding her up the stairs, she took it from there walking to Michael's room. Hellboy stopped her at the door and looked down at her, brushing a strand of her curls out of her face. "Emma," he asked as she opened the door. "I'm sorry, for everything, I never wanted you to leave." He said it quickly all in one breath. She reached up onto her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around him, which was an impossible feat.

"I know, I'm sorry I never talked to you before I left."

Hellboy grabbed her wrist as she went to turn away from him. "You have to come back." He said, turning around and marching down the hall before she could get a word out.


	8. Bro time

Clay Matthews was a lover, not a fighter. He loved his wife, his daughter, his friends. He loved his team: Big Red, Abe, the Prof., the little spitfire and Liz. He was always the peacemaker, always the arbitrator, the friend who made the joke and brought everyone back together again. And occasionally he was the muscle who got everyone out of the room before one of the ladies set themselves on fire. Which is why when Clay watched Big Red leave Emma at Michael's door with a calm that Clay had never seen the half demon possess, he was oddly proud, and only a little bit astounded.

"You good big guy?" Clay asked, drowning the last of his beer as he watched Hellboy descend the stairs made for far daintier creatures.

"I don't like him."

"You don't like anyone." Clay pointed out.

Hellboy just grunted, and shrugged his shoulders.

"And yet you didn't put up a fight." Clay felt like playing with fire today.

"I can't keep fighting with her, Clay. She just runs...and…" Hellboy cut off as a huge yawn ripped through him.

"And?"

"Nevermind."

The boys headed to their rooms, the tension palpable in the air.

"Clay?" Red asked as they reached his door. "You want a beer?"

Clay just grinned. One beer turned into two and Clay regretted the moment he changed the subject to women; as Hellboy sputtered on about Liz and Emma, Clay just cracked into the whiskey.

"I mean really, Clay? What is it about women that make me want to crack my head open?" Hellboy was at least two flats in, which had Clay grinning like the gossip he was.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you. Maureen and me, we're good - she's perfect man. Always understands me, really fun, hell of an a-"

"She understands me -" Red interrupted. "Well Liz - Liz understands. She gets the whole," he gestures to his face. "She understands how much it sucks to be a freak." he concluded.

"And Emma, doesn't understand?"

He looked at Clay like he had just claimed all men were big red demons. "Emma isn't a freak."

"She's got some freaky powers." Clay probed.

"But she can control them - not completely and I think she has more power than she knows but what she can tap into - she can control it enough. Way more than Liz, more than me. And she's you know, she's Emma. She's normal."

"Yesssss," Clay let the syllables draw out, "'cause literally moving earth, wind and fire is SUPERnormal."

Red shook his head, moving emphatically trying to get Clay to understand.

"She's hot!"

Clay tried his best not to laugh. "I'll give you that man, she's a looker, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Red sighed, stealing the bottle of whiskey from Clay's hand with his tail and downing the rest of it. "Everything, it means everything."

The room got very quiet as Red pondered that thought and Clay tried to figure out what his best friend meant; getting up and grabbing another bottle.

"Liz looks normal too." Clay pointed out quietly. "And you didn't have any problems with her."

"Liz is - she's beautiful; but she's not normal, never felt normal, never acted like humans." Clay widened his eyes at humans, Hellboy continued not noticing the stiffness in his friend's shoulders. "When Liz got to the institute I was maybe fourteen - never had a friend that was weird like me, you know, and she was fireproof." The enthusiasm that Red conjured for the last was infectious, Clay grinned along with him. "She was the first friend like me, then Abe came along and I thought it was going to be the three of us against the world."

Clay didn't dare to breathe lest HB would stop his confessional.

"I figured out she had a crush on me when she turned sixteen you know. Never heard her giggle or watched her blush before I danced with her you know? That birthday she tried to kiss me you know? I was soooo…"

"Awkward?" Clay supplied earning himself a soft thump on the head by Hellboy's tail.

"Surprised." HB muttered, reaching for another bottle. "Then we got a little older and I started pursuing her…"

"You guys have been doing this for a while." Clay stepped in, wanting the conversation to continue for as long as possible.

Hellboy snorted, Clay was sure it was going to wake up the whole damn floor.

"A long time Clay? It's been," he started counting on his fingers, "Ten years! Ten whole years of chasing after Liz, then Liz chasing after me, then she left, and I chased after her…"

Clay was beginning to see what the problem was.

"Just, time was never good you know? Then we tried to be together, finally got our shot, and Emma came along -"

They lapsed into silence for a few moments, Hellboy lost in thought while Clay chomped at the bit. Clay almost cried with relief when Hellboy spoke up again.

"There's just never been a good time with Liz you know? Even when Emma left, Liz was furious that she was still on my mind like that but you know Liz is Liz and I'm me and we're - fuck man, I dunno what we are."

"So Emma came along and you and her were?" Clay probed not giving away all his cards yet.

"Friends? Partners?"

"Crush?" Clay asked, trying not to be frightened by the dark look on the demon's' face.

"I can't have a crush on her." Hellboy stated.

"Why? She's hot, smart, sense of humour, and hey - she's fire proof too."

"I already told you Clay, she's too _normal"_ HB's temper was rising, tail thumping methodologically on the ground.

"I can see why you and Liz are not together anymore if you've been classifying her as a freak." Clay muttered.

"LIZ isn't a freak!" Hellboy exclaimed before amending his statement, "well not as BIG of a freak as me. Fuck women man."

Hellboy looked for more booze and when there was none to be had he slumped down leaning against the bed beside Clay. "Liz is hot, literally too, she's smart, funny, doesn't like people, just like me."

"You two are very similar," Clay agreed.

"Yeah I mean we have everything in common, so…" Hellboy became very quiet, when Clay glanced to his side he saw the faintest darkening of Hellboy's ears. Clay almost squealed at the tiniest hint of a blush.

"So-what-was-the-problem?" Clay's excitement had it all as one word.

"It - a… it was…"

"Performance issues?" Clay was silently chuckling now.

"NO!" Hellboy definitely woke up the neighbouring rooms with that roar.

"So what was it?"

"You know that weekend Liz and I went to the country?" Hellboy sighed, the bridge of his nose in between his fingers.

"Yup," Clay grinned.

"So we went there - her idea, and we had a great day. I got to drive, ate good food. Even tried to go fishing. It was good, normal you know? Then ugh… we got back to the cabin and watched a movie, she uh...kissed me."

"What's so wrong with a kiss?" Clay slurred, finally feeling the alcohol.

The blush was all over Hellboy's face now. "It was like kissing my sister." He muttered, head in his hands.

Clay howled with laughter.

"It's not funny!"

Clay was laying on the floor shoulders heaving as the laughter raced through him.

"Clay! Man shut it!" Hellboy through a half hearted kick at the agent.

"Man you and Liz have kissed before! I've seen it!" Clay wiped his eyes staring up at his friend.

"Yeah but it was always you know, in the heat of the moment! After battle, before we got our asses kicked, when she finally came back to the buraue."

Clay finally got it together enough to understand. "So what happened?"

"I slept on the couch and we went home early."

"That was almost nine months ago."

"Yeah - we tried after that but I couldn't do it with Liz and I dont know why. Kept trying until she left for Russia and told me not to call her."

Clay didn't know that part of the story. "Shit."

Red nodded his agreement.

"So whatcha gonna do about Emma?" Clay asked.

"Nothing." Hellboy got up and headed towards the bathroom.

"What?" Clay asked hoping he had heard wrong.

"I ain't doing nothing. Liz and I didn't work out and there's no way in hell Emma and I would work out." Hellboy said it like it was the most natural thing in the world as he shut the bathroom door.

Clay had a few minutes to work up the appropriate amount of righteous anger so when Hellboy walked out of the bathroom with a decidedly controlled indifferent look on his face Clay through his shoe at the him, smacking him in the face.

"What the hell Clay?"

"What do you mean you ain't going to anything about Emma? I just watched you tell her she had to come home with us!" Clay was indignant, drunk and getting ready to through his other shoe at Red.

"She does need to come back to the states, she belongs with us, the team." Hellboy stated it slowly, like he wasn't sure if Clay could understand him.

"The team," Clay scoffed, the other shoe in his hand.

"Dude, this isn't some chick flick, what the hell are you doing?" hellboy looked warily at the shoe.

"You just confessed to it not working with Liz and Emma being, you stupid Red…" Clay cut off when Hellboy grabbed the shoe out of Clay's hand and tipped the drunk man into the nearest of the twin beds.

"Go to sleep Clay, you aren't making any sense."

"You, my big red friend, are an IDIOT." Clay declared settling happily into bed. "You like Emma, you wanna kiss her, you wanna hug her, you wanna ban-"

"So what?" Red said it quietly, so quietly Clay almost didn't hear him.

"So kiss her Red. It wont be like kissing your sister." Clay smirked, starting to nod off with the soft bed underneath him. "You and Liz didn't want to let go. I get it, 's scary." Clay was snoring by the time Red got that statement wrapped around his head.

He sat there for a bit, on the floor while Clay snored away, thinking about everything and nothing. His romantic entanglement with Liz had ended in a whimper while everything with Emma was a storm. There was a comfort with Liz, a knowing that they shared the same fears, the same wants, the same life. Emma was a hurricane in that world. In Red's black and white boxes of the world Emma straddled the line between the two. Since there were no shades of grey in Hellboy's world, he had slipped Emma into the other box. The most frustrating thing was her habit of breaking out of that carefully constructed box.


	9. Well Shit

A/N

Thanks SOOOOOOO MUCH to Flint and Feather who always reviews and is awesome for it. Thanks to all who are still reading. This is a bit of a filler chapter getting some shit out of the way so the plot and character development can move forward. The NEXT chapter is my favorite so I'm going to take a bit more time to make sure I do it justice. Please review especially if you have criticism! I wanna know how to get better. 3 Ellie

The alarm rang in the early morning, shaking Emma awake. She had been sleeping quite comfortably curled around the comforter with Michael snoring softly beside her. But her body was still conditioned to be fully alert when that alarm went off so she jumped out of bed and pulled on some basic tactical gear as Michael attempted to sit up and shake the sleep out of his eyes. Kissing him on the cheek she was in and out of the bathroom and out the door in under ten minutes. Lightly jogging down the hallway she stopped when she heard a loud BANG. Whipping around and curling her hand around her gun she stopped short of Hellboy's room. Pressing her ear close to the door and letting a little bit a magic out to feel the occupants in the room she was alarmed to find two beings in Hellboy's room and Hellboy was on his back on the floor. Throwing caution to the wind she burst in gun raised and fingers crackling with magic.

Bursting into the room she quickly sized up the situation, Hellboy was in fact on his back on the floor and appeared to be unconscious. The perpetrator was in the bathroom, water running. She quickly checked Hellboy's pulse, noting the steady beat she glanced over him quickly. There were no obvious wounds, no new visible bruises, she glanced up at his face noting how peaceful he looked. Standing up she headed towards the bathroom, weapons at the ready. She ghosted over the ground stepping lightly over the beer can on the floor ahead of her. Wait… Emma glanced around again. Beer cans. There was also a two-six of cheap whiskey by HB's hand. Beer was normal, whiskey though? She looked again at the door, a dark pit blooming in her stomach. Either she was going to walk in on a villain who really needed a shower or Hellboy had a woman over. She briefly wondered if it was Liz. Shaking her head clear she opened the door with a bang, hoping to startle whoever was in there and shouted "Freeze!" at the man in the bathroom. There was a loud scream and another bang.

"Clay?" She asked bewildered.

"Holy balls, Emma, what are you doing?" Clay was in his underwear, obviously hungover with bloodshot eyes.

"Not a villain." She said, still stunned.

"Ya think?" Clay hollered, one hand on his head the other on the sink holding him up.

There was another loud crash from the room and Emma whirled around to see Hellboy awake and stumbling. The lamp he had taken down on his way up shattered on the floor.

"Emma?" HB asked rubbing his face with one hand and scratching his butt with the other. "What are you doing here?" He looked passed Emma, "Why is Clay naked?" There was a decidedly accusatory tone in the second question.

"I heard a noise." Emma explained a slow grin coming over her face. "Did you two have a sleepover?" she teased lightly.

Both men groaned as she started to giggle. They were both still obviously hurting, which contributed to Emma's delight. This felt decidedly normal to her. She couldn't count the number of mornings when she had found some combination of Clay, Hellboy, Abe and a handful of the other male agents nursing hangovers. Boy's night, they had called it. She had joined them a few times a discovered that all they really were was therapy sessions with alcohol and the occasional pack of smokes. She felt warm all over, like she was wrapped in a big blanket in front of a fire on a winter's night. Both men couldn't help but awkwardly return the huge smile she had on her face.

"Are ya done short-stop?" Hellboy asked, trying to keep a hold of his grin.

"Hey! I'm not that short!" Emma retaliated by lightly knocking him on the shoulder.

"You're pretty short," Clay added trying to make the most of his five foot ten inch frame.

Emma just rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay har har all five and a half feet of me could still beat you up!" She shrieked as Hellboy lifted her up around the waist and threw her over one shoulder with one hand.

Ignoring her vocal protests marked by giggles Hellboy turned to Clay who had a conspiratory smirk on his face. The blood rushed to HB's face turning it a darker shade of red as Emma let go of a half hearted kick to his stomach, bracing herself with both hands on his ass. Clay just grinned.

All three of them whirled towards the door and it slammed open as Michael, Abe and a handful of other agents burst into the doorway. Taking in the scene Abe sighed while Michael got a peculiar look on his face.

It was quite a sight: Clay, only a towel around his waist, beside Hellboy who looked like he fell out of the wrong side of purgatory; and then there was Emma thrown over his shoulder, both hands on his ass. All three were suddenly sporting rosy faces.

Kicking her way out of Hellboy's grasp the demon carefully put her down but stepped closer to her, not letting a lot of space between them.

"Can I help you?" He asked, voice low.

"I heard a noise," Michael spoke, clearly not liking the way Hellboy was looking at him.

Hellboy jerked his chin in the direction of the broken lamp. No one breathed for a moment.

"You okay?" Michael asked Emma not acknowledging HB or Clay.

"Of course," She finally spoke not sure why she was hesitant. Shaking herself out of her confusion she smiled warmly at Michael. "I thought I heard something too but it was just these two hungover idiots falling out of bed and being morons."

"Typical," Abe said, smiling genially at the three. "Breakfast is ready, the Professor wants us all together, he seems to have a plan."

Emma nodded walking towards Abe. "Finish your shower Clay, you smell like a dumpster." She threw back over her shoulder.

"Yeah yeah yeah eat me short-stop." Clay turned back to the bathroom chuckling as a smiling Emma headed out the door with Abe and all the agents dispersing.

Hellboy and Michael were the only ones left in the room, HB couldn't wait for the pretty boy to leave but his pride wouldn't let him be the first to back down from the awkward stare off he had found himself in. His pride didn't stop him from speaking first though.

"What was with the army?"

"Thought I heard something." Michael restated.

"So you brought backup?" Hellboy scoffed.

"Not all of us are," Michael waved his hand vaguely in front of him.

"Are what?" he growled.

"Some of us need back up." Michael stated amicably.

"Whatever," Hellboy was suddenly spoiling for a fight.

"Is your girlfriend going to join us at any time?" Michael asked, "Liz? Was that her name?"

"No she's not."

"That's too bad, she on another case?" Hellboy couldn't stand the genial smile across Michael's cookie cutter face.

"Not my girlfriend anymore." Hellboy grunted hoping that it would be the end of it.

"Really? What happened?" Michael stepped into the room a little bit more and Hellboy couldn't figure out if Michael was trying to be his friend or marking his territory, whatever he was doing was pissing him off.

"Decided I like the single life."

Michael nodded his understanding before breaking eye contact. "I think you and I should get to know eachother better."

"What?" Hellboy was thrown.

"You obviously care about Emma, she's your friend and since we're going to be around each other we should be friends too."

Hellboy's eyes narrowed a little. "I have enough friends buddy."

Michael let his friendly pretence drop, a calm but serious look on his face. "I heard you last night." He stated, making himself very clear. "I get you want your _friend_ to come back to Jersey and that's fine, but I adore Emma and if she wants to go back to Jersey that's a conversation we'll have together and if we decide to move stateside then you and I'll probably being seeing more of each other. For her sake we should at least get along." Michael let that sit for a moment before striding out of the room leaving Hellboy speechless.

As Hellboy tried to process what exactly had just happened Clay took that moment to bound out of the bathroom fully dressed and straightening his tie.

"What you looking at?" Hellboy asked seeing the smirk on Clay's face.

"Is this going to be one of those things where you two piss on your territory?" Clay chuckled.

"No, he's an ass." Clay had a thought that HB was about two seconds away from pouting.

"Nah. he's not he just doesn't want his girlfriend's hands on some other guy's ass."

Emma was thankful for Trevor Bruttenholm for many reasons: his calm demeanor, his fatherly mentor-ship of her when she was a student, his unending encouragement and praise, and his ability to get Hellboy to shut his mouth with just a look. Situated on the floor beside Abe's makeshift tank Clay was drowning his hangover in coffee and bacon, Trevor was holding court at the only desk, maps of Paris and books of lore littering the ground and covering the rich mahogany of the old french desk. Michael was beside Emma, sipping on his coffee and munching lightly on a bagel while Emma warmed her hands on her over-sized coffee mug, an abandoned plat beside her with only crumbs left over from her mountainous breakfast.

Hellboy had dropped himself in the corner, leaning on Abe's tank as an agent wheeled in a cart full of food. Scrambled eggs with ketchup, plates stacked high with bacon and sausage and a stack of what Emma guestimated to be about 200 pancakes. HB pulled the massive bowl of eggs onto his lap and started shoveling the food into his mouth, only stopping to drink from his gallon of orange juice.

No one in the small group seemed at all bothered by the display of food, the French agents though were not as inclined to watch the demon shovel enough food in his mouth to feed a small village. There were glances to each other, raising of eyebrows and pursed lips, with Michael sitting on the fence between nonchalance and outright disgust.

"You get used to it," Emma whispered into his ear, noticing the strange looks Michael was giving Hellboy.

Michael managed a smile, "and I thought you ate a lot."

Emma just nodded as Trevor cleared his throat.

"We need to find the mummy and the necromancer as soon as possible," the Professor declared decidedly ignoring the 'no shit' that came from HB. "Abe and I will continue to see what we can find in the archives about the mummy while Clay can take Hellboy and Emma to do some groundwork, see if anyone knows a powerful necromancer." HB grunted in acknowledgment, finishing the eggs and moving onto the pancakes. The other agents dispersed, heading to do their jobs as the Professor gave out some additional orders for the agents that were a little bit more of the mainstream cop variety.

"Groundwork?" Michael asked, finishing his coffee and standing up, giving a hand to Emma.

"You've never done ground work before cop?" Emma answered with a teasing smile.

"Never done the supernatural kind, I should probably get back to Interpol, see what the wire says." Michael kissed Emma chastly.

Hellboy, who hadn't taken his eyes off the pair leveled Michael with a steely look. "You're not coming?"

Michael shook his head, "Don't know what I can contribute."

"You ever been to the market?"

"Bastille?"

"No moron, our kinda market." Hellboy paid no attention to the reprimand his father leveled on him nor the warning in Emma's gaze.

"Supernaturals have their own markets?" Michael asked, glancing at Emma.

"We do, though I don't know if it's the kind of place for you." Emma spoke directly to the Professor, her eyes pleading with him to deal with this.

"What do you mean?" Michael asked Emma an unusually hard tone in his voice.

"Let's just say you won't have the benefit of lots of backup if things go sideways," Hellboy threw the barb at Michael, watching his gaze darken at his words.

"Well, in that case I better come to provide some extra muscle," Michael said throwing Emma into protests as Clay and Abe shot dark looks at HB.

"Think we got enough muscle buddy." Hellboy flexed his muscles a little ignoring the looks of people around him.

Finally, the Professor spoke up, his quiet voice silencing the room as effectively as a gunshot. "If Michael wants to go I see no reason why not, you three could always use an extra set of eyes."

There was a bubble of nervous energy in the pit of Emma's stomach, something deep in her gut telling her that this was not a good idea. Everyone seemed to be oblivious to her hesitancy though. Michael nodded at Trevor's words, a triumphant smile on his face; Hellboy mirrored the smile on Michael's face which made Emma feel queasy about the whole situation. Abe had a neutral look on his face, like always; her only consolation was that Clay looked about as nauseous as she felt.

 _Well shit._

Two hours later Emma was still trying to figure out how to get Michael to stay.

"Don't you have to work with Interpol?" He was on this case.

"Was there any news from Interpol?" _anything ELSE you could work on?_ But no - that was covered too.

She was beginning to pace, a restless hand moving through her hair making the curls frizzy and reducing the usually heavy, loose curls to a giant poof.

"Michael what about…"

"What Emma?" He asked shortly, tucking his glock into the holster at his hip.

"Nothing."

With a heavy sigh he stopped fixing his pristine suit. "Why don't you tell me why you don't want me to come."

On a normal day she adored how blunt Michael was. She loved that there was never any ambiguity with him. Though in that moment Emma wished he exercised a little more subtly.

"I don't not want you to come!" She winced as the words flew out of her mouth - her voice was way too high to be believed.

All she got was a hard look from Michael.

 _Well shit._

"Look," she began to explain drawing on every diplomatic lesson she had ever learned. "I want you to come, you're a good investigator and a good shot if things go south but this isn't a normal investigation and it's not like anything you've ever done before. I just don't know if this is the one you want to wet your teeth on."

"Emma, that's not a phrase." He gave her a half smile. "I've been on this team for a year, I think I'm ready."

She bit her tongue. "Michael, you'll stick out like a sore thumb. It may not help the investigation."

"I've been doing this with you and I've never 'stuck out'."

"We haven't done anything as deep as this." _Deep breathes Emma, deep breathes, no fire, no gales, no floods, no earthquakes._ _No fire, no gales, no floods, no earthquakes. No fire, no gales, no floods, no earthquakes._

"Emma, I'm coming, end of discussion."

 _Well Shit._

Unable to come up with a reason that he shouldn't come that wouldn't offend him. Emma gave a stiff nod and left the room.

"Shit shit shit shit."

"You know if the wind changes your face is gonna stay like that."

Emma whipped her head around at Clay, who was standing at the top of the stairs munching on an apple.

"No it's not!"

Clay rolled his eyes, "Sure, Emma."

"This is a bad idea." There was no hiding the anxious thread in her voice.

"Yeah, too much testosterone is always a bad idea, kid."  
Clay placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It will be me, you, HB, and Michael...Do me a solid and don't light anyone on fire?" Although she appreciated his attempt at a joke, she couldn't stop the anxious frown on her lips.

"Why did Red have to go and challenge him?"

She didn't expected an answer much less the snort that came from Clay. "Cause Michael's handsome, put together and your boyfriend."

"Why would any of that matter?" Emma asked obtusely.

Clay gave her an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me?"

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

"Here's a hint short-stop, Red is not going to like any of your boyfriends."

There was a low buzzing in Emma's head and a nauseous weight lowering itself on her chest. "He doesn't get...Why? I put up with Liz...and.."

Clay interrupted Emma's rambling with a small smile and words to shake the floor beneath her feet. "Hellboy and Liz broke up eight months ago."

As her jaw dropped and the blood rushed from her face Michael and Hellboy came to the bottom of the stairs.

"Hurry up," Hellboy grumbled not looking up again as he headed towards the garage.

"Emma." Clay and Michael said her name at the same time snapping her out of her haze.

"You okay?" Michael asked.

She nodded still a little dizzy.

With a hand on her back Clay lead her down the stairs and she followed the three men to the garage to a giant garbage truck.

Michael made a comment about the truck which Hellboy did not find amusing.

Taking advantage of the distraction Clay rubbed Emma's shoulder a little. "Deep breathes, Kid." Clay chuckled under his breath.

Glancing at her boyfriend and her...friend? Partner?...Arguing Emma felt about sixteen years old.

 _Well Shit._


	10. Marketplace

A/N: Cowers behind laptop mumbling excuses for lateness...

Paris was a city of history. It was the kind of city where you could feel the history in your bones as you swept through the nonsensical streets and back alleyways, The short, pale buildings leaning on one another. The wide boulevards more suited to carriages and the marching of battalions than small hybrids and brave bikers that dared the traffic. There were large bastions of history, the Louvre, Eiffel tower, Bastille, but the most interesting of the history were the smaller moments. The happening upon a dilapidated plaque on the side of an old brick work building that declared Hemingway or Emerson once lived there. An old brick wall that jumped out of newer buildings unannounced - nothing but a small, hidden french sign stating that this roman wall once surrounded the entirety of the city.

The history that saturated the very air of Paris always felt dark to Emma. A sharp contrast to the lights which always made Paris feel alive, even in the darkest hours of night. One of the darkest clouds in Paris's history that always gave her a tingle of unease was the city of bones running three miles under Paris's core. It wasn't a particularly dark story that surrounded the catacombs. In the late 18th century there were cave ins in the old Mines of Paris and too many bodies for the city's cemeteries. What resulted were six million corpses underneath a three square mile section of Paris - a verifiable tourist attraction and the beginning of many children's ghost stories.

They had elected to go to the Market during it's peak hours, hoping the crowd would at once mask their presence and give more opportunity that someone would know their necromancer. Leaving the Professor and Abe in the Louvres archives - an area larger and with 90% more artifacts and works than the museum itself - to scour the stacks and egyptian artifacts for something that may relate to their mummy. Clay, Emma, Michael and HB took the garbage truck to the catacombes on Rue de-la Tombe-Issoire. Michael and Clay sat up front while Emma and Red hung out in the back, waiting for the last tourists to leave the ossuary for the day.

"You been there lately?" Red asked, breaking the nearly all day silent streak the pair had going.

Emma shook her head, "No I haven't, only been here once during the first couple weeks I got here."

Hellboy visibly stiffened at the mention of Emma's relocation. "Last time I was here was thirty years ago at least. Never seen anything like it."

She looked at him with wide eyes. It wasn't often that she was reminded how much older Hellboy was than her - that he was pushing eighty not twelve as she often accused him of. He turned his head to stare out the one way window, watching the people traverse the busy boulevard, watching the world go by as he hid out of sight.

Never one to shy away at an opportunity she studied him for as long as he let her. The massive shoulders tapering at a slim waist. Tree trunk legs clad in dark cargo pants ending in dark combat boots the she knew he had specially made, his tail for once at rest. She took in the items at his belt, two guns, once his beloved samaritan the other a standard issue winchester that he had torn apart and turned into a frankensteinian monstrosity. There were bags full of herbs and vials of holy water, a few relics of different religions and his beloved rosary which he was fiddling with his left hand. His right - the huge stone hand - was also immobile. She took in the carvings on it, remembering days gone by when they had spent some half drunk afternoons trying to map it - wondering what the etchings were before their short attention spans were called elsewhere. She knew the rock was hard and rough, nothing at all like the smooth muscle of the arm it was attached to. She mapped the muscle with her eyes, moving from the bulging bicep to the thick cords that wrapped his shoulder and flowed into his neck. His jaw was relaxed for once - not clenched together like it usually was. She mapped the hard line to the strong chin up sloping cheekbones and across thick dark brows hiding impossibly golden eyes under a dark shadow. Everything about him was hard angles and stiff lines, there was no softness anywhere, not in the aquiline nose, the hard line of his mouth or the thick tension that was held there. Not even his eyes held softness - although she knew they were capable of it, occasionally, rarely, she swore she had seen it at least once.

She smirked once as she mapped his face, the black hair and blunt horns.

"What?" He asked, not looking away from window but acknowledging that he knew she was looking at him.

"You're starting to look you age, Red." she smirked again at his slight frown at her words.

"How?"

"I can see a wrinkled old man,"

"Where?" His hand flew to his face as if he could feel the faint grooving beneath his fingertips.

"Right here," she moved closer so that she was on her knees right beside him, even though he was sitting down she still had to reach up a little to ghost the faint lines between his brows with her fingers.

"You had a good run, but sadly the wrinkles have started and you're going to be eligible for the seniors discount soon." She teased, he barely looked over thirty but she couldn't resist a moment of teasing.

"Been a senior for quite some time Kid," he snorted, not moving away from her instead trading her hand for his as he frowned at the new development.

"There's always botox," she suggested lightly. It got a small smile before his frown deepened.

"They got anything for this?" he asked, running a hand over the shaved down horn.

"You could ask Clay about hair loss," she teased running a few fingers through the thick black hair.

He gave her a hard stare like he always did when she purposefully ignored the more demonic elements of his appearance.

"When we get in there you stay close to me, I want you between me and Clay at all times." It wasn't quite an order but she could sense the seriousness behind the comment.

"Are we going to have the argument where I say I can handle myself and you try to pull rank?" There was a warning in her tone but she hoped that the small smile softened any real hurt.

"No, but you know how I like to run things."

"You against the world." he gave her another hard look though he didn't deny her assessment.

"I'm already going to have to look after Michael, I don't need to worry about you too. No wandering around, no solo discovery. You stay with Clay and I'll front with Michael, hopefully anyone who sees me won't notice that Michael is human."

"Should I drop the veil?" She asked, referring to the tight draw she usually kept on her magic so that no one would notice anything different about her. Liz had a similar veil though Emma's was more reliable and advanced. Dropping her veil would mean that anyone with a hint of magic, and some humans too, would know Emma for what she was.

"No, that would call too much attention. Anyone with real power will know you're packing - you don't have to show how much."

"Keep your cards close to your chest?" She ventured.

He nodded, "You and I will ask questions, make sure Clay has our back and Michael doesn't shit his pants."

The last earned him a punch to his rock solid arm, "He's a good agent, give him something to do."

"He's a good _human_ agent Emma, but he doesn't know shit about what he's getting himself into."

He ignored her protests while he banged on the partition to the front, letting Clay and Michael know it was time to go.

""Barrière d'Enfer," Emma murmured, staring up at the small gate the marked the entrance to the catacombs.

"The what?" Clay asked, checking his gear for the tenth time as Michael, Emma and himself scouted the entrance as Hellboy waited inside the garbage truck they had park at the side of the park.

"The Gate of Hell," Michael translated stepping up to them. "Check the cameras inside, everyone is cleared out. Shut everything down for the night and the Bureau is going to get the truck in a few minutes."

They were all set.

She radioed into Hellboy telling him to come out as they carefully opened the entrance.

Red quickly lopped his way towards them, his head covered in a giant hat while a trenchcoat attempted to hide his red skin. He ducked into the entrance first with Clay close behind him and Emma bringing up the rear.

In the minute it took Emma to get in the entrance Hellboy had shed the coat and hat, leaving them in a pile on the floor for the Bureau to pick up later. Emma could not see Michael's reaction to him but she took note of his stiff shoulders so she put a hand on his back as if to tell him it was okay.

She couldn't exactly blame Michael for his reaction. Clad only in worn black cargo pants and combat boots Hellboy looked foreboding as he metaphorically let his hair down. His back straightened and his shoulders squared making him seem taller than his seven and a half feet. He had an ancient cross looped around his neck and a hardness had settled into his eyes as he palmed his Samaritan.

"Michael, you're up front with me. Don't talk and make sure nothing gets my back. Emma you're behind, Clay bring up the rear."

His orders were succinct and his tone broached no argument. Michael gave Emma's had a quick squeeze as he took place behind Hellboy and in front of Emma, his gun already in his hand as the began the slow descent down to the tombs.

It was a silent affair, getting to the Market entrance. They walked nearly a mile down below the streets of Paris, the air getting colder and damper as they descended further and further below. The halls were narrow and the ceiling low. Emma felt a little claustrophobic but she couldn't imagine how Hellboy was feeling, he was a full foot too tall for the narrow passages and was walking sideways, hunched over and shuffling along still nearly silent. It took them nearly twenty minutes to reach the first body, a full skeleton off to the right of the pathway. They didn't stop but Michael gave the corps a quick once over.

A few minutes later they came to the first large chamber. Femurs stacked on top of each other with heads resting on top, and half skulls stuck in any open space. The bones were stacked as tall as Emma's head but she paid them no mind. A few chambers and corridors later they entered the largest chamber and the entrance to the Market.

"Hold up," Hellboy held up his hand as he stood to his full height shoulders rolling back rippling the cords of muscles on his back.

He took out a small vial of holy water and the cross that was around his neck. Walking slowly from body to body he dowsed the cross in holy water and started swinging it back and forth in front of the bodies.

"What is he doing?" Michael asked Clay as the two huddled by the back entrance as Emma covered the front.

"Looking for the gatekeeper," Clay murmured, poking Michael in the ribs to get him to look at Hellboy.

The half demon had begun murmuring a chant in enochian and occitan, it took Michael a moment to realize that Hellboy was no longer swinging the cross - the cross was swinging itself, and it was beginning to get faster.

Hellboy changed direction heading to the very west corner of the room stopping in a shadowy corner, the chanting got louder as his gravelly baritone got impossibly deeper. With a final shout there was absolute silence in the chamber. No one dared to breathe as Hellboy loomed over a couple of skulls and assorted bones. After a few stuttered heartbeats a skull began moving, its jaws snapped open and closed grinding it's jaw together. Its eye sockets scrunched together and opened up, a weak groan coming from it. Hellboy poked the skull with one thick finger and recoiled quicker than a cat as its jaws snapped towards him.

"Watchit punk."

"The skull talks," Michael stuttered. "That has to be the weirdest thing I have ever seen."

"Just wait for it buddy, just wait."

"Whatcha want?" The skull was no longer just a skull, scattering bones on the floor with hollow clangs, a full skeleton stood up, looking up at the demon who was a couple feet taller than itself.

Michael had expected the skeleton to be white and look much like the ones he had seen in medical offices - it was much more haunting. The bones were grey and black - a lot were missing and some seemed to be joined together with decaying ligaments and torn, rotting muscle. Even though Michael was standing more than a few yards away he could smell the decay coming off the corps.

"Open the gate." Hellboy ordered.

"You look like a troublemaker," The skeleton appraised Hellboy with hollow eye sockets.

"He's with me," Emma pipped up, moving to stand beside Hellboy.

"I know you?"

"I've been around, met you too once." Emma seemed not at all perturbed by having a conversation with a decaying skeleton.

"You the sorcerer?" the skeleton asked, taking a step closer to Emma. Michael tried not to notice the step Hellboy took putting him right beside the girl.

"That what they call me?"

"Some. Others have more clever nicknames for you." Emma swore the skeleton was leering at her, which creeped her out to no end. Hellboy grabbed the bony arm before it would touch Emma.

"The entrance Jeeves."

The skeleton sighed. "The humans cannot enter - it is not their place."

Michael was about to speak up before Clay roughly shook his head and shushed him.

"We'll vouch for them. They're needed with us to find a man."

The skeleton looked at the men for the first time and both of them could swear that the hollowed skull looked right through them.

"Could have at least put a disguise on them."

Emma shook her head. "We're looking for a necromancer, very powerful may have a resurrected Egyptian with him."

"Don't snitch sweetheart."

Hellboy grabbed the skeleton by the fine bones of its neck and hauled it up till it was three feet off the ground. "Answer the lady's question."

"No."

Hellboy smashed the skeleton against the side of the brick wall. Everyone was astonished that the bones held in place and the skeleton just laughed.

"You like this one rough with you sweetheart?"

Emma placed a careful hand on Hellboy's shoulder as the demon raised his right fist.

"Gatekeeper let us in, we have the right."

She gave Hellboy a hard look until he dropped the skeleton who brushed himself off.

"Keep your dog on a leash blossom." Moving its hands the skeleton dug an ancient iron key from the piles of bones and stepped up to one of the columns holding up the ceiling. Pushing the key into the stone which gave way like molten copper, he switched the key to the left opening a shimmery doorway.

"You know how to get out blossom?"

"Yes," was Emma's curt answer as she motioned for Clay and Michael to join them.

Hellboy didn't say another word to the skeleton as he brushed passed him and through the entrance. Michael gasped as the huge demon melted through the shimmer and disappeared.

"Go on," Emma smiled gently at Michael and Clay, motioning to the two to get going through the entrance.

Clay stepped first melting and disappearing too and Emma gently laid a hand on Michael's shoulder. "You don't have to go if you don't want to," she murmured in his ear.

He just shook his head, walking through the entrance with his shoulders squared and tensed.

He felt incredibly cold before a burning heat pressed through him taking the breath away from his lungs. He tensed panicking for a moment that he was never going to get out of the oppressive darkness before a large red hand was on his arm hoisting him up. The world righted itself - the darkness clearing to a dark, muddy cobblestone street which he was being lifted off of.

As the world became less blurry and Hellboy had him straightened, the breathe that had returned to his lungs in heavy gasps suddenly left him again as he surveyed the new world around him.

He had never seen anything so incredible.

Emma came through the entrance next, light on her feet and none the worse for wear. She smiled lightly at him placing a hand on his shoulder as he stood between the demon and his girlfriend who he was starting to realize he knew nothing about.

"Welcome to the market," Hellboy growled in that impossibly deep baritone of his, taking a cigar out of his pocket and lighting it with a match. The fire briefly lit Red's face highlighting the sharp corners of his cheekbones and illuminating the now full horns on his head.

For the first time since meeting the infamous demon Michael was scared.

The Market of Innocents - so named for the bones which rest at its entrance in the catacombs of Paris had been their from the beginning. Ever since supernaturals and creatures had settled in Paris with the Roman conquest the Market had existed. At first they were out in the open in what was now Ill st-Louis. The creatures and supernaturals had small stalls beside the ones selling flowers and meat. Witches selling potions and herbs, sorcerers readings people's fortunes and providing small spells to anyone with for the right price. Once the Roman republic stopped tolerating all religions things had changed. Supernaturals were pushed into dark corner alleys, creatures pushed underground. Sometime after the fall of the empire they had created a small market just for them. And sometime between when Rome split from Constantinople and the there were two popes a class of sorcerers came together to hide the market from the now fearful humans, its entrance moving constantly until it settled beneath the city in 1800 hidden in view of people who no longer saw the monsters in the dark.

The Market was no longer as vast - in it's height it was nearly four square miles. It took up barely a few square blocks and was much more put together than it used to be. Cobblestones paved the wide streets as tall victorian houses boasted a number of store fronts. One shop proclaimed to have the best elvish candy this side of the Euphrates, another advertised all shorts of goblin made silver and iron ware in loopy, iridescent script. All manner of creatures made their way from store to store, shopping in the unusual heat. Trolls wearing dark robes thick spectacles opened the door to the bookshop, fairy charms twinkling at they closed the door behind them. Short, fat goblins with dark green skin and pointed ears hurried from shop to shop moving much lighter and faster than their shape would presume. There were a few mermen - scaly skin covering their land legs while their webbed hands carried heavy shopping bags. Emma tried not to flinch as their enormous black eyes flickered over her - their second eyelid sliding across their lashless eyes as they appraised the market.

Emma spied a few halflings, some shapeshifters, and a couple of vampires lingering by the bar by the main square. The market was fairly full - most just doing their shopping while others lingered by drinking and eating establishments. The air was hot and sticky. The council of maavens decided the weather in the Market and apparently they were feeling nostalgic for the Sahara today. She peeled off her jacket wrapping it around her waist leaving her in just her worn grey tank top and jeans. She glanced up at Hellboy over Michael's shoulder, trying to give her boyfriend a moment to adjust to the creatures around him. Hellboy was on edge, staring anyone down who dared to stare at him.

"Wanna split up?" She suggested.

"No," his voice was hard. "Follow my lead."

She moved to stand beside him as he started off, striding down the street like he owned it. The way all manner of life was hurriedly getting out of his way suggested that perhaps he did.

"Will you at least let me do the talking?" She asked trying to match his stride. She glanced behind her. Michael and Clay were beginning to trot.

"Red," She grabbed his arm causing him to stop as she put a little heat to her touch.

He worked his massive jaw looking at her. "Clay, Michael, watch her back." He glared down at her. "You follow my orders - no complaining." She nodded her assent wondering when the hell he started to be so bloody protective.

Following behind him she took a deep breath as he lead her further into the Market. For some reason the Market always smelled completely delicious to her. Like fresh caramel and baking and fire. The local witches must have done something to mask the smell of the more rotten delicacies and the garbage and sewage in the gutters.

They walked along at a slower pace towards the Doctor Watson, a massive multi-species dining establishment that proudly boasted it's opening in 1812. While it may have catered to finer tastes in its heyday the run down overgrown cottage with mismatched chairs and tables from the 1750s through the 1950s was now a glorified bar and diner, serving 20 types of Ale on tap and whatever could be cooked up in the greasy kitchen. There were a few flower sellers and herb witches who had set up booths in the square. A fledgling sorcerer was twisting flowers into fairies, making them dance above childrens heads. Emma grinned at their jovality. She nudged Hellboy in the ribs nodding towards the scene. He grunted his acknowledgement causing her to roll her eyes.

They entered the bar, the low ceiling had been hollowed out allowing the larger patrons more head space. The seats were mismatched of huge troll sized couched and banquet tables to tiny little elvin stools and everything inbetween. Hellboy chose a huge tables straight out of 1940s America and laid himself out on the enormous chair.

"Finally," he grinned. "Something my size."

Clay and Michael slid into the booth opposite. The massive furniture making them look small. Emma stood at the head of the table her hands on her hips.

"I'm going to get a drink and see if there's a chatty cathy anywhere on the premise. Try not to get yourselves in trouble."

As she turned away Hellboy grabbed her hand. "Stay in eyesight, don't do anything stupid."

She gave a small smile at the familiar words. "You forget you're taking all the stupid with you." She blended into the crowed and headed up to the bar leaving the three men.

Michael had a decidedly dark air about him. "I should go with her."

Hellboy stopped him with a look. "She can take care of herself, you'll just get in the way."

He opened his mouth to protest when the waitress came up. A tall woman, she would have looked at home on a runway except everything from her skin to her long wavy hair to the tips of her pointed nails was a vivid blue.

"What iz your order?" She asked in a prim french accent.

"Three beers and the nachos." Hellboy ordered not looking at her, his eyes following Emma as she charmed her way around the bar.

"Would you like ze 'uman _nachos_ or ze special order?" She pronounced nachos like it was a dirty word.

Hellboy gave the men an insufferable look which caused Clay to laugh as he looked mock offended. "The human ones please."

"What do we do now?" Michael asked not at all impressed by the display.

"We wait." Hellboy said.

"For what?"

"For someone to come to us or for your _girlfriend_ to give us the signal." HB said girlfriend like it was a dirty word.

Clay just shot Michael a look and the table fell into silence.

The waitress came back dropping off the beer and a massive plate of nachos which Hellboy immediately dug into.

"You know it's hard for anyone to approach her with you staring at her like that." Clay remarked, sipping lightly at his beer.

"Don't know what you're talking about." Hellboy growled, finishing his beer in one long gulp and digging into the nachos, his eyes never leaving Emma.

There were a smattering of patrons at the Doctor Watson, a handful of trolls obviously on lunch were digging into sandwiches and mudcake pineshakes. There were the odd humanoids - witches, warlocks, sorcerers, and so on. Then there were a few bug like creatures even Hellboy hadn't seen before lounging on big victorian love seats smoking cigarettes and chatting in a soft chitter.

Emma was talking to a slim, petite man with long dark hair and large blue eyes. She was swirling an amber liquid around a single ice cube in a heavily ornate glass which he sipped on something pink. The three men raised an eyebrow at her as she shook the man's hand. They were engrossed in conversation for a handful of minutes before he slipped her a piece of paper and walked away.

Hellboy knew that walk, the unhurried seemingly innocuous stroll to place a glass on the bar, a generous tip to the bartender, a quick glance around and then out the front door. Hellboy tracked the man as he watched the world around him - making sure he wasn't being followed.

"Girl still got it," Hellboy murmured. All three of them looked up as Emma came towards them - the same unhurried gait as the man she had been talking to.

She plopped herself down on the chair across from Hellboy with a little grin and rolled her shoulders. "What do you think of the place?"

"Food's good!" Clay said stuffing his mouth with the last of the nachos.

"It's certainly something," Michael admitted with a smile.

Emma stretched herself out again and before locking eyes with her demon. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Actually, I'm a little bored," he remarked with a spark in his eyes.

"Well, in that case -"

"HEY DEMON BOY" A loud mouthed werebison hollered at their table. Hellboy's head snapped up and even though his eyes seemed bored with the shapeshifter there were hard lines in his mouth.

"What's your type doing around here?"

"Dude he's one of you." Clay was astounded at the mans arrogance.

"Nah not the likes of him - we're no demon spawn."

"Could've had me fool," Emma's eyes almost glowed red with anger.

"Hey sweet-tits when I wanna talk to you I'll-"

The slammed back into the far wall - nearly 50 feet away- crumpling to the ground, as his friend coward in front of the enraged half demon in front of him. Hellboy turned his stony gaze down at the sniveling shapeshifter .

"Sweet-tits?"

Emma almost grinned as the man shit himself.

"Leave him Red - I think I've got something." Emma murmured, placing a delicate hand on his massive forearm.  
Hellboy's face was livid, and he clearly wanting to hit something, but Emma just gave him a comforting gaze. "Let's get out of here." She said her voice mostly even.

The four ignored the enraged manager - calmly exiting as Emma informed them of her plan.


End file.
